Ringed Seal (Phoca hispida)

Ringed Seal on chunk of glacier, Prince William Sound, Alaska
Photograph by scubadive67. Some rights reserved. (view image details)

RINGED SEAL FACTS

Description
The Ringed Seal is the smallest North American Seal and the most common arctic seal. It is pale grey with dark spots above and a silvery gray underside. The spots on the back are surrounded with pale rings. Ringed seals have small head and short narrow snout.

Other Names
Ring Seal

Size
length 1.4m - 1.5m. Females are slightly smaller than males.

Environment
Areas that freeze to solid ice in winter. They make lairs in the snow for protection from predators.

Food
fish, shrimps, krill

Breeding
One pup is born after a gestation period of about 8 months. Ringed Seals give birth on solid ice.

Range
The Ringed Seal is found in the northern parts of the Baltic Sea, Canada, Alaska, and Siberia

Classification

Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Phocidae
Genus:	Phoca
Species:	hispida
Common Name:	Ringed Seal

Relatives in same Genus
  Ribbon Seal (P. fasciata)
  Harp Seal (P. groenlandica)
  Spotted Seal (P. largha)
  Harbor Seal (P. vitulina)

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