Comments: Zalophus japonicus (Japanese sea lion) and Z. wollebaeki (Galapagos sea lion) sometimes have been regarded as subspecies of Z. californianus. Wozencraft (in Wilson and Reeder 2005) listed them as distinct species.

The English name for sea lions has been inconsistently rendered as sea lion, sealion, and sea-lion (Rice 1998, Wozencraft, in Wilson and Reeder 2005).