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sea elephant

(Science: zoology) A very large seal (Macrorhinus proboscideus) of the Antarctic seas, much hunted for its oil. It sometimes attains a length of thirty feet, and is remarkable for the prolongation of the nose of the adult male into an erectile elastic proboscis, about a foot in length. Another species of smaller size (M. Angustirostris) occurs on the coast of Lower California, but is now nearly extinct.