Jar seal, Fjord seal, Netsik, Nattiq
The Ringed seal (Pusa hispida) is a small earless seal that lives in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. It is the most abundant and wide-ranging ice seal in the Northern Hemisphere. Ringed seals are one of the primary prey of Polar bears and Killer whales, and have long been a component of the diet of indigenous people of the Arctic.
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DiurnalDiurnal animals are active during the daytime, with a period of sleeping or other inactivity at night. The timing of activity by an animal depends ...
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CarnivoreA carnivore meaning 'meat eater' is an organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of a...
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PiscivoresA piscivore is a carnivorous animal that eats primarily fish. Piscivorous is equivalent to the Greek-derived word ichthyophagous. Fish were the die...
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PlanktivoreA planktivore is an aquatic organism that feeds on planktonic food, including zooplankton and phytoplankton. Phytoplankton are usually photosynthet...
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PrecocialPrecocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
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NatatorialNatatorial animals are those adapted for swimming. Some fish use their pectoral fins as the primary means of locomotion, sometimes termed labriform...
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ViviparousAmong animals, viviparity is the development of the embryo inside the body of the parent. The term 'viviparity' and its adjective form 'viviparous'...
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AquaticAn aquatic animal is an animal, either vertebrate or invertebrate, which lives in water for most or all of its life. It may breathe air or extract ...
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PredatorPredators are animals that kill and eat other organisms, their prey. Predators may actively search for or pursue prey or wait for it, often conceal...
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PolygynyPolygyny is a mating system in which one male lives and mates with multiple females but each female only mates with a single male.
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SolitaryNo
Not a migrantAnimals that do not make seasonal movements and stay in their native home ranges all year round are called not migrants or residents.
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starts withRinged seals are the smallest of the pinnipeds. The color of their coat is variable, but it is usually dark gray on the upperparts, while being light gray to silver underneath. Dark gray spots are ringed by silver or light grayish-white circles, which are clearer on the sides and back and often so close together that they fuse. A Ringed seal is plump with a small, round head and a thick, short neck. Its broad, blunt snout and large, forward-facing, close-set eyes give it an appearance that is almost cat-like. The front flippers are relatively small, with slightly pointed claws of more than one inch in thickness, used for maintaining breathing holes in thick ice. Their whiskers are beaded and light-colored. Males are usually slightly larger than females.
Ringed seals inhabit the Arctic Ocean, the Bering Sea, and the Okhotsk Sea as far to the south as Japan's northern coast in the Pacific, and the North Atlantic coastal parts of Scandinavia and Greenland and as far to the south as Newfoundland, including two freshwater subspecies which live in northern Europe. Ringed seals do not come to shore through much of their range. Instead, they live in Arctic waters and are typically found where there is pack ice and ice floes. Further south and in Lake Ladoga and Lake Saimaa these seals rest on rocks, offshore reefs, and island shores when ice is absent.
Ringed seals are diurnal, meaning they are active during the day. Adults are solitary except during the breeding season when they may establish their lairs closer to each other. In mid-May, they begin to haul out up onto the ice to bask in the sun. They molt during this time and feed less. Ringed seals hunt on their own, and on the ice when resting they will keep away from others. They usually stay near holes or cracks so that they can get quickly into the water if they need to. They also make lairs from snow to protect themselves. While feeding, Ringed seals dive to depths of 35 to 150 ft (11 to 46 m). In the summer they often feed along edge of the sea-ice for polar cod.
Ringed seals are carnivores (piscivores, planktivores). Their diet includes various fish, crustaceans, cephalopods, euphausiids, amphipods, mysids, and shrimps.
Ringed seals are polygynous, with one male mating with multiple females. They breed from April to May. The females build lairs amongst the thick ice where they give birth. In March or April, after a gestation of 9 months, they bear a single pup. They nurse their pups for 5 to 7 weeks, and, during this time, may move their pups between lairs, usually having 4 to 6 lairs. This allows pups to move independently from shelter to shelter when they are older if they are attacked. Females usually bear pups between the ages of 6 and 8. Males typically do not breed until they are 8 to 10 years old.
Climate change is the greatest threat to Ringed seals. Being dependent upon an ice habitat, both ice and snow need to be stable enough in the spring to allow females to raise the pups in their lairs. But as Arctic ice continues to melt every year and the ice breaks up sooner, mothers may increasingly become separated from their pups prematurely, which increases the risk of predation and exposure. Furthermore, warm spring temperatures and spring rains can also cause the collapse of the roofs of lairs, with similar results. Other threats to these seals are pollution, disturbance, and getting tangled in fishing nets.
According to the IUCN Red List, the worldwide population size of the Ringed seal is 3 million individuals or more than 1.5 million mature individuals, including five recognized subspecies: Arctic Ringed Seal - 1,450,000 individuals, Okhotsk Ringed Seal - 44,000 individuals, Baltic Ringed Seal - 11,500 individuals, Ladoga Seal - 3,000-4,500 individuals, Saimaa Seal - 135-190 individuals. Currently, this species is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List.
