Spotted Seal ( Phoca largha )

Young Spotted Seal, Bering Sea ice.

Photograph by Josh M London, National Marine Mammal Laboratory, NOAA. Some rights reserved. (view image details)

Spotted Seal pup about 4-5 weeks old. It will likely wean from its mother in another week or so. At that point, it will be on its own to survive.

Photograph by Josh M London, National Marine Mammal Laboratory, NOAA. Some rights reserved. (view image details)

SPOTTED SEAL FACTS

Description
Spotted Seals have dark irregular spots on a lighter background. Newborn pups are white haired. Spotted Seals form large groups of up to several thousand when they come onto the ice for breeding and molting.

Other Names
Larga Seal

Size
length 1.4 - 1.7m

Environment
sea ice, pack ice, on land when no ice is available.

Food
fish, crustaceans, squid, octopus

Breeding
A single pup (usually) is born after gestation of about 12 months. The young is weaned after 4 to 5 weeks.

Range
along the continental shelves of the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea

Classification

Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Phocidae
Genus:	Phoca
Species:	largha
Common Name:	Spotted Seal

Relatives in same Genus
  Ribbon Seal (P. fasciata)
  Harp Seal (P. groenlandica)
  Ringed Seal (P. hispida)
  Harbor Seal (P. vitulina)