Harbor Seal
Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina)
alternately spelled Harbour Seal, also known as the Common Seal
Species Code: PHVI ...
Harbor Seal
Relatives in same Genus
Ribbon Seal (P. fasciata)
Harp Seal (P. groenlandica)
Ringed Seal (P. hispida)
Spotted Seal (P. largha) ...
The Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina) is a common coastal seal of both the northern Atlantic and northern Pacific coasts of the United States and Canada.
Harbor Seal
Related Category: Vertebrate Zoology
most commonly seen seal of the Northern Hemisphere, Phoca vitulina. Harbor seals are found along coasts and in sheltered bays and harbors of North America, Europe, and NE Asia.
Harbor seals, Phoca vitulina (Linnaeus, 1758), are the most common seal species and contain 5 subspecies. Alaskan and western Pacific harbor seals are significantly larger than seals in the Atlantic southern areas of the eastern Pacific.
Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina)
No photo of the Harbor Seal available.
The Harbor Seal is from the order Carnivora. The Carnivora (or carnivores) are meat eating mammals.
Harbor Seal
The Harbor Seal is a marine mammal that spends most of its life in the sea, but also enjoys sunbathing on rocks or on the beach.
The harbor seal is covered by a coat of short, thick hairs. These hairs are white to black.
Its back is covered with darker spots or rings.
It also has four webbed flippers that help it move through the water.
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.
Harbor seals are protected in U.S. coastal waters by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The eastern North Pacific (Alaska to California) population is estimated at around 300,000 individuals.
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Harbor Seal
Order: Carnivora
Family: Phocidae
Phoca vitulina - female and pup (right) with male (left); young females in background
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Harbor Seal
Phoca vitulina
Very common usually close to land. At low tide rest on rocks in Merrimack River. More common Oct - May. Recovering from persecution.
Gray Seal
Halichoerus grypus ...
Harbor seals are one of the smallest members of the Phocidae family. Male harbor seals can weigh up to 264 lbs. while females weigh up to 198 lbs. Harbor seals are known as "true" or "earless" seals.
Harbor seal,
Harbour seal
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Harbor Seals spend a great deal of time basking on beaches and rocky shores, sometimes alone but usually with several other individuals, and occasionally in groups numbering in the thousands.
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Harbor Seal
Harbor Seals live in the ocean but breathe air. They are marine mammals. (Family Phocidae, Subfamily Phocinae)
HARP SEAL
Harp Seals live are marine mammals that live in the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean.
Harbor Seal
Phoca vitulina (scientific)
Wood Thrush
Hylocichla mustelina (scientific) ...
harbor seal (Phoca vitulina): One of the most widespread seals, this animal coexists with gray seals throughout much of the gray's range.
killer whale (Orcinus orca): Also called orcas, these predatory whales probably feed upon gray seals.
The Harbor Seal, Phoca vitulina, is found in inlets, harbors, and estuaries on the Atlantic coast as far south as Volusia County. It is light to dark gray, often mottled. It has large eyes and prominent whiskers. It is 5-6 feet long.
Carnivore young range from highly precocial, harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) pups are able to swim a few minutes after birth, to altricial, as in bears.
Subspecies: Phoca vitulina vitulina (Eastern Atlantic harbor seal)
Subspecies: Phoca vitulina concolor (Western Atlantic harbor seal)
Subspecies: Phoca vitulina richarii (Pacific harbor seal) ...
Pinnipedia, Elephant Seals, Harbor Seals (Phocidae), Stellar Sea Lions(Eumetopais jubata) Otariidae, Walruses (Odobenus rosmarus) Otariidae, California Sea Lions (Zalophus californianus) Otariidae ...
Spotted Seal (P. largha) Â- Harbor Seal (P. vitulina)
Pusa
Caspian Seal (P. caspica) Â- Ringed Seal (P. hispida) Â- Baikal Seal (P. sibirica) ...
Fish such as salmon, hake, halibut, mackerel and tunas are common prey, as are marine mammals such as harbor porpoises and harbor seals. However whites also eat other sharks, sea turtles and seabirds.
A few kinds of earless seals are found in warmer waters, such as Harbor seals, northern elephant seals, and monk seals.
There is one prominent site on Bolinas Lagoon near the Harbor Seal haul-out that some call Whimbrel Point, because of the reliable presence of a single Whimbrel stationed there.
It should be noted that the common seal (harbor seal in the U.S.), Phoca vitulina, does not separate foraging and maternal investment; instead, it displays a reptroductive strategy similar to those of otariids, ...
 See also: Sea Lion, Lion, Otter, Elephant, California sea lion
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