Pacific Harbor Seal, Phoca vitulina richardii

Pacific Harbor Seal, Phoca vitulina richardii.

The Pacific Harbor Seal, Phoca vitulina richardii (Gray, 1864), is a member of the Phocidae Family of True Seals, that are also known as the North Pacific Harbor Seal and the Eastern Pacific Harbor Seal and in Mexico as foca de Puerto. Pacific Harbor Seals are a subspecies of the Harbor Seal (Linnaeus, 1758). This subspecies designation is based primarily on geographic distribution.

Like all Harbor Seals the Pacific Harbor Seals have stout, but streamlined bodies, robust heads, broad snouts and front flippers with strong claws. They vary in color including blackish, gray, silver, tan and whitish. Most Pacific Harbor Seals are spotted with darker colored spots, though some darker individuals have lighter colored markings. They are dimorphic with males reaching 1.9 m (6 feet 3 inches) in length and 170 kg (370 lbs) in weight; females are smaller with a maximum length of 1.7 m (5 feet 7 in)) and 130 kg (290 lbs) in weight.

Harbor Seals are found in the Northern coastal waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. They live in in bays, estuaries, river mouths, and along exposed shorelines. They do most of their hunting in water between 30 and 490 feet and can dive to depths up to 450 m (1,475 feet). They eat a wide variety of crustaceans, fish, octopus and squid. In turn they are preyed upon by sharks and Killer Whales. In the water Harbor Seals are generally seen as solitary individuals. On land on sandy or rocky shorelines, they are known to congregate in groups. This is especially true when they are molting or giving birth as the groups afford protection from shoreline predators including bears and coyotes. Most Harbor Seal colonies are found on off-shore islands where their shoreline predators are less common. Harbor Seals have live spans of up to 35 years.

The Pacific Harbor Seal ranges from the Aleutian Islands to Central Baja with Isla Asunción and Cedros Island, in the State of Baja California, being the southern limit of the range of their colonies. Vagrants have been found further south along the Peninsula and even into the southern portions of the Sea of Cortez, as far north as La Paz, Baja California Sur.

From a conservation perspective the Pacific Harbor Seal has not been formally evaluated.