RroBON SEAL 



The ribbon seal is the only Pacific species having a distinctly banded 

 coat, a distinction shared by only one other seal, the Atlantic harp seal or 

 saddle back. The ribbon seal is taken in some numbers each winter by 

 Japanese sealers for its oil, meat, and leather when the pack ice of the 

 Okhotsk Sea approaches the shores of Hokkaido. Although it is considered 

 a rare seal of solitary occurrence in the Bering Sea, the Eskimos of St. 

 Lawrence Island regularly take a few in the winter and spring. 



Description 



An adult male from the Okhotsk Sea weighed 209 pounds, length 5 

 feet 3 inches; an adult female 174 pounds and 5 feet 4 inches; a pup in late 

 April, several weeks old, 45 pounds and 3 feet. The adult male is choco- 

 late-brown with a white ribbon-like band around the neck, around the base 

 of each f oreflipper, and around the rump. The female and young are pale 

 gray, darker on the back with indistinct traces of the bands. The pup is 

 born with a coat of long white wool which is shed in late April, exposing 

 the faint banded pattern. The cheek teeth of the ribbon seal are double 

 rooted, like those of the harbor and ringed seals, but have simple, one- 

 pointed crowns instead of several cusps. 



Range 



In American waters, the ribbon seal is seen only among the ice floes 

 of the northern and eastern Bering Sea. It is rarely seen near the Pribilof 

 Islands. It apparently occurs in greatest numbers on the pack ice of the 

 Okhotsk Sea. In late April of 1949 a Japanese catch of 412 phocid seals 

 contained 118 ribbon seals. 



Breeding and feeding habits 



The young are said to be born on the ice in March. Two seals killed 

 in the Okhotsk Sea in April had been feeding on pollack and squid. 



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