Hydrurga

Published: July 18, 2010, 12:15 pm

Topics:

Marine Ecology (main) Biodiversity (main)

Leopard seal. Source: Yan Ropert-Coudert/WoRMS/Encyclopedia of Life

Conservation Status

Scientific Classification Kingdom: Anamalia (Animals) Phylum:--- Chordata Class:------ Mammalia (Mammals) Order:-------- Carnivora (Carnivores) Family:-------- Phocidae (True Seals) Genus:--------- Hydrurga Species:-------- 1 species

Hydrurga is a genus of a single species (a “monotypic” genus) within the true seal family of nineteen species; Leopard seal is the common name of the species within this genus. Together with the families of Eared seals and Walruses, true seals form the group of marine mammals known as pinnipeds.

Leopard seals are the second largest species of True seal), second only to Elephant seals. It is near the top of the food chain and will attack Crabeater seals, fur seals and penguins.

For details, see Leopard Seal.

Further Reading

1. Hydrurga leptonyx (Blainville, 1820) Encyclopedia of Life (accessed July 17, 2010)
2. Hydrurga leptonyx, Tunstall, T., 2000, Animal Diversity Web (accessed July 17, 2010)
3. Leopard seal, Seal Conservation Society (accessed July 17, 2010)
4. Hydrurga leptonyx, IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (accessed July 17, 2010)
5. The Pinnipeds: Seals, Sea Lions, and Walruses, Marianne Riedman, University of California Press, 1991 ISBN: 0520064984
6. Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, Bernd Wursig, Academic Press, 2002 ISBN: 0125513402
7. Marine Mammal Research: Conservation beyond Crisis, edited by John E. Reynolds III, William F. Perrin, Randall R. Reeves, Suzanne Montgomery and Timothy J. Ragen, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005 ISBN: 0801882559
8. Walker's Mammals of the World, Ronald M. Nowak, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN: 0801857899
9. Leopard seal, MarineBio.org (accessed July 17, 2010)

Citation

Life, E. (2010). Hydrurga. Retrieved from http://editors.eol.org/eoearth/wiki/Hydrurga