Caspian Seal
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Suborder: Pinnipedia Family: Phocidae Genus: Pusa Species: P. caspica
Binomial name
Pusa caspica (Gmelin, 1788)

Caspian seals (Pusa caspica), one of the smallest members of the "true seal" family, are unique in that they are found exclusively in the brackish Caspian Sea. They can be found not only along the shorelines, but also on the many rocky islands and floating blocks of ice that dot the Caspian Sea. In winter, and cooler parts of the spring and autumn season, these marine mammals populate the Northern Caspian. As the ice melts in the warmer season, they can be found on the mouths of the Volga and Ural Rivers, as well as the southern latitudes of the Caspian where cooler waters can be found due to greater depth. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive either in the present day or the future. ... Image File history File links Status_iucn2. ... This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it. ... The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List and Red Data List), created in 1963, is the worlds most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species and can be found here. ... Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. ... “Animalia” redirects here. ... Typical Classes See below Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates. ... Subclasses Subclass Allotheria* Order Docodonta (extinct) Order Multituberculata (extinct) Order Palaeoryctoides (extinct) Order Triconodonta (extinct) Order Volaticotheria (extinct) Subclass Prototheria Order Monotremata Subclass Theria Infraclass Trituberculata (extinct) Infraclass Metatheria Infraclass Eutheria Mammals are a class of vertebrate animals characterized by the production of milk in females for the nourishment of... Families 17, See classification The diverse order Carnivora (IPA: or IPA: ; from Latin carō (stem carn-) flesh, + vorāre to devour) includes over 260 placental mammals. ... subfamilies Otariidae Phocidae Odobenidae Pinnipeds are large marine mammals belonging to the Pinnipedia, a family (sometimes a suborder or superfamily, depending on the classification scheme) of the order Carnivora. ... Genera Monachus (Monk Seals) Mirounga (Elephant Seal) Lobodon (Crabeater Seals) Leptonychotes Hydrurga (Leopard Seals) Ommatophoca Erignathus (Bearded Seals) Phoca Halichoerus (Gray Seals) Cystophora (Hooded Seals) The true seals or earless seals are one of the three main groups of mammals within the seal suborder, Pinnipedia. ... For the president (heads of state) of the United States, see President of the United States. ... In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal method of naming species. ... Johann Friedrich Gmelin (August 8, 1748 - November 1, 1804) was a German naturalist and botanist. ... 1788 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Genera Monachus (Monk Seals) Mirounga (Elephant Seal) Lobodon (Crabeater Seals) Leptonychotes Hydrurga (Leopard Seals) Ommatophoca Erignathus (Bearded Seals) Phoca Halichoerus (Gray Seals) Cystophora (Hooded Seals) The true seals or earless seals are one of the three main groups of mammals within the seal suborder, Pinnipedia. ... The Caspian Sea (Russian: Каспийское море; Kazakh: Каспий теңізі; Turkmen: Hazar deňizi; Azeri: XÉ™zÉ™r dÉ™nizi; Persian: دریای خزر Daryā-ye Khazar) is the largest lake on Earth by area[2], with a surface area of 371,000 square kilometers (143,244 sq mi) and a volume of 78,200 cubic kilometers (18... A marine mammal is a mammal that is primarily ocean-dwelling or depends on the ocean for its food. ... For other meanings of the word Volga see Volga (disambiguation) Волга Length 3,690 km Elevation of the source 225 m Average discharge  ? m³/s Area watershed 1. ... The Ural (Russian: , Kazakh: Жайық, Jayıq or Zhayyq), known as Yaik before 1775, is a river flowing through Russia and Kazakhstan. ...

It is so-far unclear as to how these seals became isolated in the landlocked Caspian Sea, and hypotheses have been put forth to explain this enigmatic situation. One of the most widely known hypotheses argues that the seals reached the Caspian during the Quaternary period from the north when continental ice sheets and proglacial lakes were growing. It may also be the case that the seals invaded this region during the late Pliocene cooling around 2 million years ago. It is generally thought that the Caspian seals, along with the Baikal seals (another isolated species of seals in a Eurasian basin), descended from the Ringed seal. The Quaternary Period is the geologic time period from the end of the Pliocene Epoch roughly 1. ... In geology, a proglacial lake is a lake formed either by the damming action of a moraine or ice dam during the retreat of a melting glacier, or one formed by meltwater trapped against a ice sheet due to isostatic depression of the crust around the ice. ... The Pliocene epoch (spelled Pleiocene in some older texts) is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5. ... Binomial name Phoca sibirica Gmelin, 1788 The Nerpa or Baikal Seal (Phoca sibirica) is a species of earless seal endemic to Lake Baikal, a huge freshwater lake in Siberia near the border with Mongolia). ... Binomial name Pusa hispida (Schreber, 1775) The Ringed Seal or Jar Seal (Pusa hispida formerly Phoca hispida) is an earless seal inhabiting the northern coasts. ...

Description

Caspian seals are known for their prominent spots, which are usually lighter on the females. Adults are approximately 1.5 meters in length and weigh around 86 kilograms. Displaying sexual dimorphism, the males of this species are generally larger and bulkier. Their heads are small relative to the rest of the body. The dental formula for these pinnipeds is I 3/2, R 1/1, PC 6/5. Female (left) and male Common Pheasant, illustrating the dramatic difference in both color and size between the sexes Sexual dimorphism is the systematic difference in form between individuals of different sex in the same species. ... Dentition is the development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth. ... Families Odobenidae Otariidae Phocidae Pinnipeds (fin-feet, lit. ...

Caspian seals are shallow divers, with diving depths typically reaching 50 meters and lasting about a minute, although deeper and longer depths have been recorded. They are gregarious, spending most of their time in large colonies.

After an 11 month gestation period, the single pups are born in January and February. Similar to other ringed seals, these pups are born with white pelage and weigh about 5 kilograms. Their white coat is molted at around three weeks to a month. Sexual maturity is reached at 5 years for females, and about 6 or 7 years for males. In mammals, pelage is the hair, fur, or wool that covers the animal. ... In birds, moulting or molting is the routine shedding of old feathers. ...

Prey and Predators

Caspian seals diets varies seasonally, and includes a wide variety of fishes and crustaceans such as shad (Alosa spp), cyprinids, gobies, and crustaceans. The seals may enter river estuaries to eat carp, roach and pike-perch. Species See text. ... Genera (many, see text) The family Cyprinidae, named after the Greek word Kypris, another name for Aphrodite, consists of the carps and some of the fish known as minnows. ... Subfamilies Amblyopinae Gobiinae Gobionellinae Oxudercinae Sicydiinae See also list of Gobiidae genera The gobies form the family Gobiidae, which is one of the largest families of fish, with more than 2,000 species in more than 200 genera. ... Classes Remipedia Cephalocarida Branchiopoda Ostracoda Maxillopoda Malacostraca The crustaceans (Crustacea) are a large group of arthropods (55,000 species), usually treated as a subphylum. ... Rio de la Plata estuary Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Estuaries An estuary is a semi-enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Binomial name Rutilus rutilus Linnaeus, 1758 The Roach (Rutilus rutilus, family Cyprinidae, plural also roach) is a small freshwater and brackish water fish native to most of Europe and western Asia. ... Species (see text) Sander (formerly known as Stizostedion) is a genus of fish in the Percidae (Perch) family. ...

Sea eagles are known to hunt these seals, which results in a high number of fatalities for the juveniles. They are also hunted by humans for subsistence and commercial reasons. Due to the increasing industrial development in the surrounding region, pollutants and pesticides have entered the Caspian and caused significant habitat problems, weakened immune systems and contributed to disease outbreaks.

Since the late 1990s, there have been several cases of many Caspian seals dying due to canine distemper virus. For the band, see 1990s (band). ... Canine distemper is a viral disease affecting animals in the families Canidae, Mustelidae, Mephitidae, Procyonidae, and possibly Felidae (though not domestic cats; feline distemper or panleukopenia is a similar, but different, virus exclusive to cats). ...

A century ago the were an estimated 1.5 million seals; by the 1980's, there were about 400,000.[1]

References

• Seal Specialist Group (1996). Pusa caspica. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Listed as Vulnerable (VU B1+2e v2.3)

1. Jukka Palo: Genetic diversity and phylogeography of landlocked seals
2. OBIS-SEAMAP - Species Profiles

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List and Red Data List), created in 1963, is the worlds most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species and can be found here. ... The World Conservation Union or International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) is an international organization dedicated to natural resource conservation. ...

External links

• Caspian seal factsheet at pinnipeds.org
• "Caspian Seal under threat of extinction", Baztab newspaper. Persian article.