Alternative Names (Synonyms)

• Harbour seal
• Harbor seal
• Spotted seal
• Sand seal
• Selchie
• Selkie (Northern Isles)
• Black seal
• Morlo cyffredin (Welsh)
• Phoque veau marin (French)
• Seehund (German)

Names for new-borns / juveniles

General Appearance

Similar Species

• Numerous small spots (rather than larger and fewer);
• Relatively small head with rounded top of head and concave forehead;
• Short muzzle;
• Nostrils close together and forming "V" shape.

(B142)

References

Species Author

Major References

Husbandry references:

• Wildlife and Countryside Directorate, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR)
• The Mammal Society
• Mammals Trust
• British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR)
• Earthkind
• Irish Seal Sanctuary
• Sea Life Centres
• Sea Mammal Research Unit
• Sea Watch Foundation
• Seal Conservation Society (SCS)
• Seal Rehabilitation and Research Centre
• UK Marine Mammal Strandings Project

• British Mammal Factsheets
• MARINE MAMMAL MEDIC HANDBOOK
• Oil Spills and Marine Wildlife: Guidelines for a Response

TAXA Group (where information has been collated for an entire group on a modular basis)

Parent Group

• Pinnipeds

Specific Needs Group referenced in Management Techniques

• Pinnipeds

Husbandry Information

Notes

• Accommodation of Casualty Seals
• Hand-rearing Seals
• Catching and Handling of Seals
• Feeding of Casualty Seals
• Release of Casualty Seals

Measurement & Weight

• Males 4.2-6.2ft/1.3-1.95m (B144); 1.5-2.0m (B147).
• Females 3.8-4ft/1.2-1.69m (B144); 1.2-1.5m (B147).

• Up to 68kg (B148).

• About 220lbs/100kg, can reach 440lbs/200kg (B144); 70-170kg (B147).

• 99-176lbs./45-80kg, can reach 220lbs./100kg (B144); 50-150kg (B147).

• May double birth weight by weaning.
• Slightly faster growth males than females.
• Lose weight after weaning while learning to feed.

(B142)

Head

Skull:--

Nose: Nostrils slit-like, in 'V' shape and close together (B142, B144, B147).

Ears: not visible (B142).

• I 3/2 C 1/1 post-canines 5/5Post canine teeth (except first) clearly tricuspid and longer height than width (B142).
• Permanent dentition present at or soon after birth (B142).

Legs and Tracks

• Forelimbs paddle-shaped, digits all within common integument.
• Hindlimbs fan-like: digits joined by web (hair-covered).
• Claws on all digits, larger on forelimb digits.
• Parallel tracks, 55-75cm wide for adults, 30-45cm wide for pups, may be left where substrate suitable.
• From forelimbs: hind limbs not used on land.

(B142).

Tail

Coat / Pelage

• Variable colour and pattern.
• Dark spots on paler grey/brown-grey/ yellow-grey background.
• Spots small and numerous, sometimes form network of small rings.
• Coalesce on back to give dark background with paler markings.
• May be dark/black dorsal stripe.
• Underparts paler with fewer spots (B148).

(B142, B147, B148).

• Brownish-tinged before late-summer moult.
• Males: usually darker than females.
• Whole dorsal region black in some populations (B147).
• May be pale rings around spots (B147).

(B142)

• Once yearly at end of breeding season.
• As early as June for yearlings, mid-July (females before males) for adults.
• Takes 3-4 weeks.
• All completed by late September.
• Starts face and genitals, finishes mid-dorsal.

(B142).

Neonate (New-born) Characteristics

Detailed Anatomy Notes
(Summary information provided for pertinent species-specific data cross-referenced in Wildpro)

Natural Diet

• Wide range of fish (elasmobranch and teleost), also cephalopods, gastropods, crustaceans.
• Fish taken include herring, anchovies, trout, smelt, cod, flounder, whiting, salmon.
• Shrimps and other small crustaceans commonly eaten in considerable quantities by young (newly-weaned) seals.
• Consume 2-3kg per day in captivity.

(B142, B147).

Detailed Physiology Notes
(Summary information provided for pertinent species-specific data cross-referenced in Wildpro)

Feeding Behaviour

• Opportunistic predators: take abundant or easy-to-catch prey.
• Probably solitary while feeding.
• Probably swallow most prey whole (intact herring 30cm long found in stomachs).

(B142, B143).

Parental Behaviour

• Cared for by female to weaning, then abandoned.
• Female defends space around pup.
• Remain in close contact early in lactation
• Mother and pup may dive together.
• Mother may carry pup on her back.
• Leave pups for longer periods close to weaning.

(B142).

Social Behaviour / Territoriality

• Haul-out groups may include one to more than 600 individuals.
• Strong linear hierarchies may be formed based on size and sex, with adult males dominant.
• Breeding season groups may be separated with mainly females and pups in some groups, mainly males in others.
• May travel 50km from haul-out sites to feeding areas.
• Return to favoured haul-out sites.
• Threat behaviours but rarely fights in disputes over space at haul-out sites.
• Male-male fights in June/July, occur in water.

(B142)

Sexual Behaviour

• Probably monogamous or promiscuous but may be mildly polygynous.
• Mating probably in water.

(B142).

Predation in Wild

Activity Patterns

• Clumsy on land. Body hitching with forelimbs on ground used on land.
• Skilful swimming and diving.
• Side-to-side sweeps of hind flippers used for swimming.
• Dives of 2-6 minutes, with time at surface about 10-20% of time in dive.
• Shorter more irregular dives seen when playing in shallows.
• Rest in water (bottling) with body vertical, head above surface, sinking for upto 8 minutes before re-appearing.
• Deepest known dive 500m.
• Strong swimmer, sometimes porpoises.

(B142, B147).

• Usually haul-out during low tide on sandbanks.
• Haul-out on rocky shores often less linked to tides.
• Diurnal, nocturnal and tidal behaviour patterns seen in Orkney.
• Haul-out patterns vary according to sex, season and individuals.

(B142)

General Habitat Type

• Mainly shallow water in and near river mouths, appreciate sandbars which are dry at low tide, and tidal flats.
• Avoid areas of regular freezing
• Mainly coastal waters (shorelines and estuaries) - shallow, sheltered waters. Rocky coasts, intertidal rocks of offshore islands, reefs, pebble beaches, sandy beaches, also tidal sand flats where disturbance common.
• Sandbanks and mudflats commonly used for hauling-out.
• May travel many kilometres up rivers.
• May remain in freshwater lakes year-round.
• In north uses areas where swift currents/tides keep water ice-free in winter.
• Use inshore and offshore waters for feeding.
• (B142, B143, B144, B147).

Nests / Burrows / Shelters

Distribution and Movement (Migration etc.)

• North Atlantic coasts, North Sea, western Baltic (B148).
• Hokkaido (Japan), around North Pacific ocean and southwards to Baja California, north-western Greenland and Hudson Bay southwards to South Carolina, Iceland and Svalbard to Baltic Sea and Portugal. Near Hudson Bay also on several inland lakes (B147)
• In Europe: breeding Iceland, Norway south from Finland, Baltic south of Stockholm (sparsely), Denmark, German Friesian coast, Dutch Wadden sea (sparsely). "around the British Isles, in the Kattegat/Skagerrak, the south-western Baltic Sea, the Limfjorden, the Wadden Sea and farther south along the North Sea to Brittany".North along Western Svalbard, also Iceland, coasts of Norway, Russia's Murmansk coast (B143).
• Britain: west coast of Scotland, Hebrides, Northern Isles. More restricted on east coast: estuaries including Moray Firth, Tay, Wash. Smaller groups on sandbanks off East Anglia and Lincolnshire.
• Ireland: mainly sheltered sea loughs and estuaries of shallow eastern and north-eastern coast.

Movements:

• Pups disperse, up to 300km.
• Non-migratory.

(B142, B144, B147).

• In Europe: sporadically found along Channel coast and Biscay, south as far as Portugal (B142).
• In Britain: vagrants/remnants estuaries of south coast, Bristol channel; and Menai Straights, and occasionally found further up inland waterways, including River Thames (reaching above Tower Bridge), Rive Ouse in East Anglia, Loch Ness (B142).

--.

Intraspecific variation

• Phoca vitulina vitulina (western Atlantic: Europe)
• Phoca vitulina concolor (western Atlantic: Greenland)
• Phoca vitulina stejnegeri (western Pacific: Asia)
• Phoca vitulina richardsi (eastern Pacific: Alaska)
• Phoca vitulina mellonae (freshwater lakes on Ungave Peninsula of Quebec, east of Hudson Bay)

(B143, B147)

Subspecific status of Phoca vitulina mellonae "currently under review" (B143).

No consistent morphological characteristics between Phoca vitulina vitulina Eastern Atlantic and Phoca vitulina concolor Western Atlantic. (B142).

Conservation Status

• Not globally threatened (B144).
• Major recent decline in Phoca vitulina richardsi (Alaskan subspecies) (B147).
• Phoca vitulina concolor (Greenland) also substantially declined (B147).
• Phoca vitulina vitulina (Europe) classified as endangered by Russia (B147).
• Phoca vitulina mellonae (freshwater lakes on Ungave Peninsula of Quebec, east of Hudson Bay) threatened by both hydroelectric development and pollution (B147).
• In Britain: native and locally common. Pre-breeding population estimate of about 35,000, including 2,200 in England, 32,800 in Scotland, 0 in Wales (colony counts: does not include occasional sightings of seals off the Welsh coast). Population estimate considered likely to be inaccurate by no more than 25% in either direction (B221).

• Bern Convention, Appendix III (B143)
• Bonn Convention, Appendix II (Baltic and Wadden Sea populations only) (B143).
• EU Habitats & Species Directive, Annex II, Annex V (B143).

UK Legislation:

• Conservation of Seals Act 1970: close season 1 June to 31 August in Great Britain, may be killed only under licence, or near fishing nets to protect catch.
• Protested year-round in Shetland.
• Wildlife Act 1976 protects all year in Eire (Irish Republic).
• Northern Ireland: not protected (B142)

• Persecuted due to conflicts with fishing, also pollution (affects reproduction and immuno-suppressive), disturbance, entanglement with fishing gear and other debris. (B143, B147, B221).
• Disease risk - Morbillivirus epidemic (Phocine distemper) (B221); this killed more than half of population in areas of Europe (B147).