A mysterious furry stranger, rarely seen in local waters, was recently spotted disturbing the peace for three California sea lions, hanging out on rocks west of Victoria.

Trying its best to blend in with the heavy weight pinnipeds of the Salish Sea was a northern fur seal, an animal normally found in the open North Pacific Ocean, where it spends around 90 per cent of their lives feeding and sleeping at sea.

But with its smaller stature, pinched face and "spectacular Fu Manchu whiskers," there was no fooling anybody.

A northern fur seal this close to Greater Victoria is a rare sighting, says Val Shore a senior naturalist with Eagle Wing Tours, who was one of the lucky people onboard the tour boat to witness the pinniped mixer.

鈥淭his guy was sitting on the rocks along with three California sea lions, just relaxing,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e were all very excited to find him 鈥� it was the big event of the day and when our guests saw how excited the crew were, they got excited too, it was really cool to see.鈥�

For the most part, the sea lions chose to tolerate their uninvited guest, says Shore. 鈥淚 only saw one interaction that was sort of a growl-snarl, which is pretty typical for California sea lions anyway, they don't like their space being invaded.鈥�

Wanting to find out more, Shore shared images from the April 10 sighting with a pinniped researcher in the U.S., who was able to confirm the seal is a young adult male, weighing in at approximately 200 to 300 pounds.

鈥淵ou can tell by the broad shoulders that it鈥檚 a male,鈥� said Shore. 鈥淸The pinniped researcher] is extremely interested in this sighting, he said this is very unusual to see them here.鈥�

The U.S. marine mammal expert also commented that the seal appears to look healthy. 鈥淚t was alert, so it didn't look injured in any way that we could see, and it seemed to be behaving normally,鈥� Shore said.

This is not the first time the Eagle Wings crew has spotted a northern fur seal in Victoria waters. One was seen in mid-October last year, in a similar area to the sighting this month, but Shore does not think the two animals are one and the same.

鈥淭hat one was seen in the water, and they look a lot different when they're wet, so we could not really get a good idea of size at that time,鈥� she says.

鈥淚t's possible it's the same individual, but it seems unlikely.鈥�

Despite the recent sightings, Shore does not believe it is a sign the northern fur seal is 鈥渋nvading鈥� the area.

鈥淚 think this is just an outlier who poked into the Strait of Juan de Fuca and decided to haul out onto some rocks here,鈥� she says, adding there might be one or two individuals in the strait at any given time or at certain times of the year.

鈥淚 don't see this as a big shift in in their range, this guy is sort of on the edge of their typical range."

Once hunted in its thousands for their dense, luxurious pelt, the northern fur seal became a protected species in 1911 because of declining numbers.

鈥淭his was one of the first international agreements protecting marine wildlife,鈥� said Shore. 鈥淚t prohibited pelagic sealing and ended the commercial hunting of fur seals in Canadian waters.鈥�

Shore believes there is evidence suggesting northern fur seals did once inhabit the west coast of Vancouver Island, with bones found in First Nations archaeological sites, known as middens, offering a clue to the pinniped's past.

鈥淨uite a few of the middens have a lot of northern fur seal bones, indicating that they were a vital food source for the Indigenous people of the time,鈥� she says.

As the bones mostly belonged to female and young seals, Shore says this suggests there was a breeding colony somewhere along the coast.

鈥淏ut no one knows where that was and why it disappeared,鈥� she adds. 鈥淪o the bottom line here is that this is part of their historical range, but it's certainly not that unusual for this animal historically.鈥�

With a northern fur seal sighting ticked off her wish list for 2025, Shore is curious to see what else awaits her and the Eagle Wings crew at sea.

"You just never know what you might come across," she says. "We think that way every time we come out of the harbour, 'What are we going to see today?' And it's always a surprise of some sort."