Spotted seal: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the spotted seal lives – recorded in 2 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Phoca largha
Group	Seals, sea lions & walrus
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	2 countries
Continents	Europe, North America
Class	Mammal
Order	Carnivora
Family	Phocidae

Where does the spotted seal live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the spotted seal in 2 countries and territories across Europe and North America.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

Is the spotted seal endangered?

The spotted seal’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the spotted seal?

The spotted seal (Phoca largha) is a mammal in the order Carnivora and the family Phocidae, genus Phoca. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the spotted seal

The spotted seal (Phoca largha), also known as the larga seal or largha seal, is a species of earless seal (or true seal, Phocidae). It inhabits ice floes and waters of the north Pacific Ocean and adjacent seas. It is primarily found along the continental shelf of the Beaufort, Chukchi, Bering and Okhotsk Seas and south to the northern Yellow Sea and it migrates south as far as northern Huanghai and the western Sea of Japan. It is also found in Alaska from the southeastern Bristol Bay to Demarcation Point during the ice-free seasons of summer and autumn when spotted seals mate and have pups. Smaller numbers are found in the Beaufort Sea. It is sometimes mistaken for the harbor seal to which it is closely related and spotted seals and harbor seals often mingle together in areas where their habitats overlap.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Spotted seal (revision 1378398102), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q494968 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).