Youth For Arctic Nature
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Harbor seal
Phoca vitulina

Vulnerability: locally endangered
Invasive: no
Identification: difficult
Monitoring: medium

What is it?
The harbor seal varies in color, from light brown to dark gray. Usually, the undersides are lighter than the back, where there are more dark spots. Often, females are light with darker spots, and males are dark with lighter spots.

Harbor seals can grow to be 100kg, and 2 meters long. It is very difficult to distinguish males from females, although males are slightly larger than females on average.

In the arctic and subarctic, adult harbor seal molt in August, which is also mating season. The pups are born in June or July in the most northern colonies.
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Where is it?
Harbor seals are the most widely distributed pinniped species in the world. Indeed, the are present on both sides of the North Atlantic, throughout the North Pacific, in the Baltic Sea. the North Sea, and the Arctic Ocean.
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Interesting facts
  • One subspecies of harbor seal, the Ungava seal, is found in a freshwater lake! It is believed that less than a hundred Ungava seals are alive today.
  • The harbor seal is listed as least concerned globally, but it is critically endangered in Iceland, the Baltic Sea, Hokkaido in Japan, and Greenland.

Pictures

  • Cover picture: "Harbor Seals" by USFWS Headquarters is licensed under CC BY 2.0

References

  • ​Harbour Seal. (2021, July). North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission. https://nammco.no/topics/harbour-seal/
PARTNERS

Project collaborators in Iceland

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Made possible with support from

The Icelandic Climate Fund (2020-2021)
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The North Atlantic Cooperation (2021-2023)
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  • Home
  • Goals
  • Local Nature
    • Flora >
      • Arctic poppy
      • Cow parsley
      • Mountain avens
      • Nootka lupin
      • Purple saxifrage
      • Reindeer lichen
    • Land mammals >
      • Carnivores >
        • American mink
        • Arctic fox
        • Red fox
      • Herbivores >
        • Reindeer
        • Muskox
      • Insectivores
    • Marine mammals >
      • Seals and Bears >
        • Harbor seal
        • Polar bear
        • Ringed seal
      • Whales and Dolphins >
        • Humpback whale
        • Minke whale
        • Orca
    • Birds >
      • Birds of prey >
        • Gyrfalcon
        • Snowy owl
        • White-tailed eagle
      • Land birds >
        • Rock ptarmigan
        • Rock pigeon
        • Eurasian three-toed woodpecker
      • Passerines >
        • Common raven
        • European starling
        • Snow bunting
      • Sea birds >
        • Atlantic puffin
        • Great cormorant
        • Northern fulmar
      • Seagulls >
        • Black-legged kittiwake
        • Arctic tern
        • Arctic skua
      • Waders >
        • Eurasian oystercatcher
        • Common ringed plover
        • Purple sandpiper
  • News
  • Contact us