The Neovison: The Sea Mink

The Neovison Macrodon, or also referred to as the Sea Mink, is a mustelid that once lived up till the 1860’s, but became extinct due to it being hunted to death. During that time the European fur trade was happening, and people wanted to make money from the coats they sold. In addition, to other species of animals, the sea mink was one of the targets for producing many coats. However, the Sea Mink was, on average, 90cm long, so it took 60 of them to make a single coat, resulting in mass slaughter.
The Neovison Macrodon once lived in rocky terrains near New England, Nova Scotia, and Atlantic Canada, where it roamed throughout the waters. The average size of a male’s home range is between 1,800m and 5,000m, while a female’s range is between 1,000m and 2,800m. It’s diet mainly consisted of aquatic creatures, such as fish, insects, Labrador ducks, seabirds, and their eggs, but it also was seasonal. When hunting for prey the Mink mainly relied on it’s vision, since they didn’t really have a

special ability.
Most information about the Sea Mink is unclear, since hardly any research has been done on them before their disappearance, as a result, scientists compare them to a close relative, the American Mink.

Sea Minks are commonly mistaken as the American Mink due to their close relation, and similarities. With the little information known about the extinct species they mainly rely on the relative to figure out knowledge such as their lifespan. It is thought the Neovison Macrodon had a lifespan of around 6-10 years. They were the largest of the Mink family, where they were, on average, 914 mm long. In addition, they were fatter, and had much blunter teeth than the American Mink. They had very coarse, deep red fur, and a slightly bushy tail. Females were called Sows, males are Boars, and children are Cubs. They had 5-10 cubs at once, and the cubs would stay with the mother for 13-14 weeks. Neovison Macrodon were nocturnal, solitary creatures, whose only known predators, were

humans.
Sea Minks weren’t beneficial to the ecosystem, nor to people, other than the fact they provided fur and material. However, at the same time they had no negative effect on the environment. Before the Europeans hunted the animal to extinction, Native Americans had also come into contact with the animals. They used them for their fur as well, but the main purpose of capturing the animals was to eat its meat to survive. In addition, they didn’t have any major role in their existence vanishing. The importance of having regulations on hunting a certain animal is quite great, but unfortunately there weren’t any for the unlucky Sea Mink resulting in its death. It is mainly necessary to look back on mistakes of the human race to reflect and learn, by doing this we are able to correct ourselves, and not lose another precious generation of animals.