Veterinarians with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Wednesday assessed a Hawaiian monk seal for a procedure to remove a fishhook it swallowed.

Coast Guard crews transported the Hawaiian monk seal to Oahu’s Air Station Barbers Point from Kauai aboard an HC-130 Hercules airplane on Tuesday.

Eric Roberts, marine mammal response coordinator for the 14th Coast Guard District, said the Coast Guard worked in tandem with NOAA officials in delivering the injured seal for medical treatment at NOAA headquarters on Oahu’s Ford Island.

"Coast Guard members in Hawaii take great pride in our unique operational ability to help recover and maintain our nation’s marine protected species," Roberts said.

The Hawaiian monk seal, or Monachus schauinslandi, one of the rarest marine mammals in the world, was placed on the federal endangered species list in 1976, barring harming or killing of it in the United States and its territorial waters.

Hunted to the brink of extinction in the later part of the 19th century, some 1,200 dwell in Hawaiian waters, including the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and main Hawaiian Islands, according to NOAA.

Adult Hawaiian monk seals typically weigh between 375 and 450 pounds and have a length of 7 feet to 7.5 feet and a life span of 25 to 30 years, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

They’re known to forage deeper than 1,000 feet and prey on a variety of sea life including crustaceans, eels and fish. Part of the true seal family, it is one of only two remaining monk seal species.