Enhydra lutris (Linnaeus, 1758) (sea otter). 

 Formerly ranged from Morro Hermoso, Baja Califor- 

 nia, north along the coast to Prince William Sound 

 and the south shore of the Alaska Peninsula, 

 throughout the Aleutian, Pribilof, and Commander 

 islands, along the southeast coast of Kamchatka, 

 and through the Kuril Islands to northern Hok- 

 kaido. Three subspecies are recognizable (Roest 

 1973; Davis and Lidicker 1975): E. I. nereis (Mer- 

 riam, 1904) from Mexico to Prince William Sound, 

 Alaska; E. I. lutris from the Aleutian and Comman- 

 der islands; and E. I. gracilis (Bechstein, 1799) in 

 Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands. (The Aleutian 

 race has been introduced into Oregon, Washington, 

 British Columbia, and southeastern Alaska, where 

 the indigenous stock was extirpated.) 



Family PHOCIDAE 



Genus PHOCA Linnaeus, 1758 



Scheffer (1958) raised Pusa (including hispida, cas- 

 pica, and sibirica), Pagophilus (groenlandicus) , and His- 

 triophoca (fasciata) to generic rank, but Burns and Fay 

 (1970) have shown that they deserve only subgeneric 

 rank. 



Phoca vitulina Linnaeus, 1758 (harbor seal). 



Shores of North America and Eurasia from Hok- 

 kaido, Baja California, North Carolina, and Spain 

 north to the edge of arctic ice. Gives birth on land in 

 May-August; the pup sheds its white coat in utero. 

 The Atlantic subspecies, P. v. vitulina, is dis- 

 tinguishable from the Pacific subspecies by skull 

 characters. Western North Atlantic seals are 

 sometimes listed as a separate subspecies from those 

 on the eastern side, but Doutt (1942) could find no 

 differences between seals of the eastern and western 

 Atlantic. Phoca v. mellonae Doutt, 1942, is said to 

 be confined to the Seal Lakes complex of the Un- 

 gava Peninsula, though Mansfield (1967) doubted 

 the validity of the subspecies. Phoca v. richardii 

 (Gray, 1864) occurs in the eastern North Pacific west 

 to the Aleutians, where it intergrades with P. v. 

 kurilensis Inukai, 1942, of the western North Pacific 

 (Shaughnessy 1974). 



Phoca largha Pallas, 1811 (spotted seal; larga seal). 

 Chukchi, western Beaufort, northern Bering, 

 Okhotsk, and Japan seas, southwest to the Shan- 

 tung Peninsula, China. Reproductively isolated 

 from P. vitulina, with which it is sympatric in the 

 Kuril Islands and along the north shore of the Alaska 

 Peninsula (Belkin 1964; McLaren 1966; Burns 1970). 

 Gives birth on ice in late winter or spring and the 

 pup retains its white coat for a week or more after 

 birth. 



Phoca hispida Schreber, 1775 (ringed seal). 



Throughout the Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas, 



chiefly in fast ice, and in several Finnish lakes. Four 

 geographically isolated peripheral populations are 

 fairly well-defined subspecies, one each from the 

 Okhotsk Sea (P. h. ochotensis Pallas, 1811); the Bal- 

 tic Sea (P. h. botnica Gmelin, 1788); Lake Ladoga 

 (P. h. ladogensis Nordquist, 1899); and Lake Saimaa 

 and adjacent lakes (P. h. saimensis Nordquist, 

 1899). Geographical variation in the Arctic Ocean 

 and Bering Sea populations, tentatively referable to 

 the nominate subspecies, requires much further 

 study. 



Phoca sibirica Gmelin, 1788 (Baikal seal). 



Only in Lake Baikal, U.S.S.R., a freshwater body 

 which freezes in winter. 



Phoca caspica Gmelin, 1788 (Caspian seal). 



Only in Caspian Sea, U.S.S.R., the northern end of 

 which freezes in winter. 



Phoca groenlandica Erxleben, 1777 (harp seal). 

 North Atlantic Ocean, in pack ice from northern 

 shores of Europe to eastern Canada. Breeds on pack 

 ice in three main areas: the White Sea, north of Jan 

 Mayen, and Newfoundland. (The Newfoundland 

 seals breed in two centers: the "Front" north of the 

 island and the "Gulf west of it.) Seals of the three 

 areas differ in size, cranial features, and body colora- 

 tion (Khuzin 1963, 1967; Yablokov and Sergeant 

 1963; Yablokov and Etin 1965). Subspecific names 

 have been given to the Newfoundland stock, P. g. 

 groenlandica, and that of the White Sea, P. g. 

 oceanica Lepechin, 1778, but not to the Jan Mayen 

 stock (Smirnov 1927). 



Phoca fasciata Zimmermann, 1783 (ribbon seal). 

 North Pacific Ocean, chiefly in pack ice, from 

 northern Hokkaido and the Okhotsk Sea to north- 

 western Alaska. 



Genus HALICHOERUS Nilsson, 1820 



Halichoerus grypus (Fabricius, 1791) (gray seal). 

 Temperate coasts of the North Atlantic. There are 

 three breeding populations: one in the western At- 

 lantic from Newfoundland to Massachusetts, 

 another in the eastern Atlantic from the British Isles 

 (rarely France) and Iceland to the White Sea, and a 

 third in the Baltic Sea. Seals of the western Atlan- 

 tic and Baltic populations pup in February and 

 March, seals of the eastern Atlantic from Septem- 

 ber to December. 



Genus ERIGNATHUS Gill, 1866 



Erignathus barbatus (Erxleben, 1777) (bearded seal). 

 Circumboreal at edges of ice; along all coasts and is- 

 lands of northern Eurasia and northern North 

 America. No subspecies are recognizable (Kosygin 

 and Potelov 1971). 



