Crabeater Seal
Conservation status
Least Concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Family: Phocidae Genus: Lobodon Species: L. carcinophagus
Binomial name
Lobodon carcinophagus Hombron & Jacquinot, 1842
Distribution of Crabeater Seal

The Crabeater Seal, Lobodon carcinophagus, is one of the most remarkable, though least known, of the mammals of the world. At a population of 8 to 50 million (LAWS 1973), it is perhaps the "second most numerous large species of mammals on Earth, after humans."^[1] More than one in every two seals in the world is a Crabeater Seal and the population biomass of Crabeaters is about four times that of all other pinnipeds put together ^[2]. Image File history File links Krabbenfresser. ... 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. ... Least Concern (LC) is an IUCN category assigned to extant species or lower taxa which have been evaluated but do not qualify for any other category. ... Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. ... For other uses, see Animal (disambiguation). ... Typical Classes See below Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates. ... Subclasses & Infraclasses Subclass †Allotheria* Subclass Prototheria Subclass Theria Infraclass †Trituberculata Infraclass Metatheria Infraclass Eutheria Mammals (class Mammalia) are warm-blooded, vertebrate animals characterized by the production of milk in female mammary glands and by the presence of: hair, three middle ear bones used in hearing, and a neocortex region in... Families 17, See classification The diverse order Carnivora (IPA: or ; from Latin carō (stem carn-) flesh, + vorāre to devour) includes over 260 species of placental mammals. ... 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. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Doctor Jacques Bernard Hombron (1798 - 1852) was a French naval surgeon and naturalist. ... Honoré Jacquinot (1815 - 1887) was a French zoologist. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 479 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (900 × 1127 pixel, file size: 79 KB, MIME type: image/png) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Crabeater Seal ... Subclasses & Infraclasses Subclass †Allotheria* Subclass Prototheria Subclass Theria Infraclass †Trituberculata Infraclass Metatheria Infraclass Eutheria Mammals (class Mammalia) are warm-blooded, vertebrate animals characterized by the production of milk in female mammary glands and by the presence of: hair, three middle ear bones used in hearing, and a neocortex region in... 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. ...

Schematic of the skull, showing the unusual shape of the teeth.

Despite its name, its diet does not include crabs. Instead, a crabeater seal's unusual multilobed teeth enable this species to sieve krill from the water. Its dentition looks like a perfect strainer, but how it operates in detail is still unknown. The food of Crabeater Seals consists 98 % of Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba. The seals consume over 63 million tonnes of krill each year. They live and reproduce in the pack ice zone around Antarctica. Image File history File links CrabeaterSealSkullSchematic. ... Image File history File links CrabeaterSealSkullSchematic. ... Families Euphausiidae Euphausia Dana, 1852 Meganyctiphanes Holt and W. M. Tattersall, 1905 Nematobrachion Calman, 1905 Nematoscelis G. O. Sars, 1883 Nyctiphanes G. O. Sars, 1883 Pseudeuphausia Hansen, 1910 Stylocheiron G. O. Sars, 1883 Tessarabrachion Hansen, 1911 Thysanoessa Brandt, 1851 Thysanopoda Latreille, 1831 Bentheuphausiidae Bentheuphausia amblyops Krill are shrimp-like marine... Binomial name Euphausia superba Dana, 1850 The Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba ) is a species of krill found in the Antarctic waters of the Southern Ocean. ...

Males grow to about 2.2m to about 2.6m and weigh roughly between 200 and 300 kg. After molting seasons the fur of the crab eater seal is dark brown fading to blonde on its belly. These seals also have dark brown mailings along the back and sides. The fur lightens through out the year, becoming completely blonde in summer. Crab eaters’ have long snouts and slender bodies. Crab eater seals have distinctive and complex teeth. Each tooth has tubercles, or bony protuberances with spaces between them. The upper and lower jaws fit together so that when the mouth closes the teeth and the tubercles can strain krill.

Females grow up to 3.6 m (142 in) in length and 500 lb (230 kg) in weight. Crabeater Seals colonized Antarctica during the late Miocene or early Pliocene (15 - 25 million years ago), at a time when the region was much warmer than today. The evolution into this strange, successful and abundant animal can be taken as a token of the bounty and continuity of krill. The Miocene Epoch is a period of time that extends from about 23. ... The Pliocene epoch (spelled Pleiocene in some older texts) is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5. ...

Pups are born about 1.2 meters in length and weigh between 20 and 30 kilograms. While nursing, pups grow at a rate of about 4.2 kilograms a day.

The seal's background colour is mainly silvery-grey when newly moulted, or golden to creamy white when the coat has faded. Older animals become progressively paler, even when freshly moulted, and may appear almost white. In younger animals, there are net-like, chocolate-brown markings and flecks on the shoulders, sides and flanks, shading into the predominantly dark hind and fore flippers and head.

Explorer and naturalist E.A.Wilson, who accompanied British explorer Robert Falcon Scott on the 1910-1913 Terra Nova Expedition to the South Pole, recorded that the Crabeater seal will, when close to death, leave the pack and travel far up glaciers to die. He observed Crabeater carcasses on a number of occasions, "thirty miles from the sea-shore and 3000 feet above sea-level".^[3] Edward Adrian Wilson (Uncle Bill) (July 23, 1872 - March 29, 1912) was an English polar explorer, physician, naturalist and ornithologist. ... For other persons named Robert Scott, see Robert Scott (disambiguation). ... The Terra Nova Expedition (1910–1913) was a British expedition led by Robert Falcon Scott with the purpose of undertaking scientific research and exploration along the coast and interior of Antarctica. ...

References

1. ^ Bryson, Bill. A Short History of Nearly Everything. 285
2. ^ BONNER B 1995 Birds and Mammals - Antarctic Seals. in Antarctica Pergamon Press 202 - 222
3. ^ E.A. Wilson, Discovery Natural History Report, Zoology, vol. ii, part i.