Hooded seal
Species of carnivore / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Quick Facts Conservation status, Scientific classification ...
Hooded seal[1] | |
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Specimen at Museum Koenig | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Carnivora |
Clade: | Pinnipedia |
Family: | Phocidae |
Subfamily: | Phocinae |
Genus: | Cystophora Nilsson, 1820 |
Species: | C. cristata |
Binomial name | |
Cystophora cristata (Erxleben, 1777) | |
Distribution of the hooded seal. Breeding grounds indicated in blue. |
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The hooded seal (Cystophora cristata) is a large phocid found only in the central and western North Atlantic, ranging from Svalbard in the east to the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the west. The seals are typically silver-grey or white in color, with black spots that vary in size covering most of the body.[3] Hooded seal pups are known as "blue-backs" because their coats are blue-grey on the back with whitish bellies. This coat is shed after 14 months of age when the pups molt.[4] It is the only species in the genus Cystophora.