Mammals · Carnivora · Phocidae

Spotted Seal

Phoca largha

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

The spotted seal, or largha seal, is the only seal of the North Pacific that depends on drifting sea ice to breed. It looks very like the harbour seal, with which it lives side by side in some areas, but is told apart by a life cycle tied to the seasonal pack ice. It feeds on fish, cephalopods and crustaceans and often dives below 100 metres. Its population is still large, but the retreat of the seasonal ice in the Bering Sea is a structural threat over the medium term.

Weight

65 kg – 115 kg

Size

1.5 m – 2.1 m

Lifespan

35 years

Diet

Carnivore

Feeds mainly on other animals.

Activity

Irregular activity

Active at irregular times, by day or night depending on circumstances.

Social structure

Solitary

Lives and hunts alone, joining others only to breed.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

OceanPolarCarnivore Variable activity Solitary Ocean Polar Mammal

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Fun facts

It forms seasonal male-female pairs that stay together on the ice for weeks before the birth, a behaviour that is uncommon among the true seals.
Its pups are born on the ice with a woolly white coat and moult it within two or three weeks, before entering the water for the first time.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (mammal)
Habitat & environment: Seasonal pack ice, coastal waters and estuaries of the North Pacific and the Bering and Okhotsk Seas
Birth weight: 7 - 12 kg
Size at birth: About 80 cm; born with a white lanugo coat
Sexual maturity: 3.5 years
Gestation / incubation: 10.5 months
Litter / clutch size: 1