Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina)
Baby harbor seal (left) bonding with its mother (right) 15 minutes after birth (photo credit: Lauren Rice)
Description: Harbor seals are a favorite creature of many Oregon coast visitors. The fur of these marine mammals varies in shades of gray, sometimes including white or yellowish-gray, with darker gray spots all over their backs. Harbor seals are known as true seals because they belong to the family of earless seals. To spot a harbor seal, keep an eye on the ocean because you may eventually see a little gray head pop up!
Habitat: They range geographically along the Pacific Coast of North America from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska down to Baja California in Mexico. Along the Atlantic Coast of North America, they’re found from the Canadian Arctic to the Mid-Atlantic coastal regions. They’re also commonly spotted in the coastal waters of British Columbia. When out of the water, these species can be found hauled out in large groups in low-lying intertidal areas, sandbars, or tidal reefs.
Diet: When underwater, they hunt for food; their diet consists of fish, shellfish, and crustaceans. Sometimes they have to do deep dives to find their food, but other times they will hunt in more shallow waters.
Tide Pool Tidbits:
After harbor seal pups are born, they will repeatedly touch noses with their mother (illustrated in image above). This is an imprinting behavior that bonds the mother and the pup.
Even after just being born, pups are ready and able to swim!
Harbor seals can hold their breath underwater for up to 30 minutes! Even though they are mammals and need to breathe air, they will sometimes sleep underwater during these long breathless periods.
As previously mentioned, harbor seals are true seals because they belong to the family of earless seals. True seals do not have external ear flaps like sea lions do; instead, they have an external ear opening that leads to the ear canal. These ear openings close when harbor seals are underwater, but they’re still able to hear when they dive!
“Galumphing” is the technical term for the bouncing motion harbor seals do as they move across land.
References: Central Coast Biodiversity, NOAA Fisheries