Phoca

Published: July 20, 2010, 10:10 pm

Updated: May 13, 2011, 10:30 am

Topics:

Marine Ecology (main) Species (main)

Creative commons credit: Tomomori

Scientific Classification Kingdom: Anamalia (Animals) Phylum:--- Chordata Class:------ Mammalia (Mammals) Order:-------- Carnivora (Carnivores) Family:-------- Phocidae (True Seals) Genus:--------- Phoca Species:-------- 2 species

Conservation Status

Phoca is a genus comprised of two species within the true seal family of nineteen species:

• Spotted seal (Phoca largha)
• Harbor seal, also known as the Common seal (Phoca vitulina)

Together with the families of Eared seals and Walruses, True seals form the group of marine mammals known as pinnipeds.

The Harbor seal has five subspecies based on geographic location:

• Eastern Atlantic Harbor seal - Phoca vitulinavitulina (Linnaeus,1758)
• Western Atlantic Harbour seal - Phocavitulinaconcolor (DeKay,1842)
• Seal Lake seal or Ungava seal - Phocavitulinamellonae (Doutt,1942)
• Eastern Pacific Harbor seal - Phocavitulinarichardii(Gray,1864)
• Western Pacific Harbour seal or Kuril seal - Phocavitulinastejnegeri (J.A.Allen,1902)

For details regarding the two component species of this genus, see Spotted seal and Harbor seal

Harbor seal. Source: Petr Baum/BioLib/Encyclopedia of Life

Harbor seal. Source: Petr Baum/BioLib/Encyclopedia of Life

Further Reading

1. Phoca largha Pallas, 1811 Encyclopedia of Life (accessed July 20, 2010)
2. Phoca vitulina Linnaeus, 1758 Encyclopedia of Life (accessed July 20, 2010)
3. Phoca largha, Abar, R., 2002, Animal Diversity Web (accessed July 20, 2010) Phoca vitulina,Steinway, M., 2003, Animal Diversity Web (accessed July 20, 2010)
4. Spotted seal, Seal Conservation Society (accessed July 20, 2010)
5. Harbor seal, Seal Conservation Society (accessed July 20, 2010)
6. Phoca largha, IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (accessed July 20, 2010)
7. Phoca vitulina, IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (accessed July 20, 2010)
8. Spotted seal, MarineBio.org (accessed July 20, 2010)
9. Harbor Seal, MarineBio.org (accessed July 20, 2010)
10. The Pinnipeds: Seals, Sea Lions, and Walruses, Marianne Riedman, University of California Press, 1991 ISBN: 0520064984
11. Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, Bernd Wursig, Academic Press, 2002 ISBN: 0125513402
12. 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
13. Walker's Mammals of the World, Ronald M. Nowak, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN: 0801857899

Citation

Life, E. (2011). Phoca. Retrieved from http://editors.eol.org/eoearth/wiki/Phoca