HARBOR SEAL

SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION

COMMON NAME:	harbor seal
KINGDOM:	Animalia
PHYLUM:	Chordata
CLASS:	Mammalia
ORDER:	Pinnipedia
FAMILY:	Phocidae
GENUS SPECIES:	Phoca vitulina

FAST FACTS

DESCRIPTION:	Harbor seals have a rounded head with a fairly blunt snout and, like other true seals, lack external ear pinnae. They exhibit a wide range of color variations, from silver with black spots, to black with gray or white rings, to almost pure white.
MALE	Adult males are slightly larger than adult females

SIZE:	At birth, harbor seal pups are about 756-100 mm (29.5-39.4 in.) in length
MALE	Up to about 2.0 m (6.6 ft.)
FEMALE	Up to 1.7 m (5.6 ft.)

WEIGHT:	Newborn harbor seal pups weigh from 8-12 kg (8-26 lbs.)
MALE	Males weigh as much as 170 kg (375 lb.)
FEMALE	Females weigh up to 150 kg (331 lb.)

DIET:

Squid, crustaceans, mollusks, and fishes

GESTATION:	Gestational period 9-11 months; with 1.5-3 months delayed implantation
ESTRAL PERIOD	At the end of lactation
NURSING DURATION	4-6 weeks (wean)

SEXUAL MATURITY:
MALE	3-7 years
FEMALE	2-7 years

LIFE SPAN:

25-30 years

RANGE:

Temperate, Arctic and subarctic waters throughout the Northern Hemisphere. One subspecies, Phoca vitulina mellonae, is a landlocked group of harbor seals living in freshwater Seal Lake in Quebec, Canada.

HABITAT:

Cobble or sandy beaches, rocky reefs, tidal mudflats and sandbars along the coast or in bays or estuaries

POPULATION:	GLOBAL	400,000-500,000
	LOCAL	The most abundant subspecies is P.v. richardsi - an estimated 200,000 individuals inhabit the eastern North Pacific from the Pribilof Islands to Baja California, Mexico

STATUS:	IUCN	Not listed
	CITES	Not listed
	USFWS	Not listed