Ribbon Seal
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 2.3)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Suborder: Pinnipedia Family: Phocidae Genus: Histriophoca Gill, 1873 Species: H. fasciata
Binomial name
Histriophoca fasciata (Zimmermann, 1783)
Ribbon seal range (blue - summer, pink - maximal)

The Ribbon Seal (Histriophoca fasciata) is a pinniped from the true seal family (Phocidae). A seasonally ice-bound species, it is found in the Arctic and Subarctic regions of the North Pacific Ocean, notably in the Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk. It is the only species in the genus Histriophoca. Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... The conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species remaining extant either in the present day or the near 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. ... 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 redirects here. ... For other uses, see Animal (disambiguation). ... Typical Classes Subphylum Urochordata - Tunicates Ascidiacea Thaliacea Larvacea Subphylum Cephalochordata - Lancelets Subphylum Myxini - Hagfishes Subphylum Vertebrata - Vertebrates Petromyzontida - Lampreys Placodermi (extinct) Chondrichthyes - Cartilaginous fishes Acanthodii (extinct) Actinopterygii - Ray-finned fishes Actinistia - Coelacanths Dipnoi - Lungfishes Amphibia - Amphibians Reptilia - Reptiles Aves - Birds Mammalia - Mammals Chordates (phylum Chordata) include the vertebrates, together with... Subclasses & Infraclasses Subclass †Allotheria* Subclass Prototheria Subclass Theria Infraclass †Trituberculata Infraclass Metatheria Infraclass Eutheria For the folk-rock band see The Mammals. ... 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. ... 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. ... Latin name redirects here. ... Eberhard August Wilhelm von Zimmermann (August 17, 1743 - July 4, 1815) was a German geographer and zoologist. ... Families Odobenidae Otariidae Phocidae Pinnipeds (fin-feet, lit. ... 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 ships, see USS Arctic, SS Arctic, MV Arctic The red line indicates the 10°C isotherm in July, sometimes used to define the Arctic region border Artificially coloured topographical map of the Arctic region The Arctic is the region around the Earths North Pole, opposite the Antarctic... The subarctic is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic and covering much of Canada and Siberia, the north of Scandinavia, northern Mongolia and the Chinese province of Heilongjiang. ... Satellite photo of the Bering Sea Bering Sea and the North Pacific Ocean Bearing Sea with Kamchatka Peninsula and Alaska The Bering (or Imarpik) Sea is a body of water north of, and separated from, the north Pacific Ocean by the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands. ... Map of the Sea of Okhotsk. ...

Physical description

Adult seals are recognizable by their black skin, which carries four white markings: a strip around the neck, one around the tail and a circular marking on each body side, which encloses the front fins. The contrast is particularly strong with the males, while with females the difference in colour between bright and dark portions is often less conspicuous. Newborn Ribbon Seal pups have white natal fur. After moulting their natal fur, their colour changes to blue-grey on their backs and silvery beneath; after some years some portions become darker and others brighter, and only at the age of four years does the typical design show. In animals, moulting (Commonwealth English) or molting (American English) is the routine shedding off old feathers in birds, or of old skin in reptiles, or of old hairs in mammals (see also coat (dog)). In arthropods, such as insects, arachnids and crustaceans, moulting describes the shedding of its exoskeleton (which...

The Ribbon Seal has a large inflatable air sac that is connected to the trachea and extends on the right side over the ribs. It is larger in males than in females, and it is thought that it is used to produce underwater vocalizations, perhaps for attracting a mate. The Ribbon Seal can grow about 1.6 m (5 ft) long, weighing 95 kg (210 lb) in both genders. An inflatable is an object that can be inflated, usually with air, but hydrogen, helium and nitrogen are also used. ... Air sac is an anatomical term with several meanings: Pulmonary alveolus, informally known as an air sac, one of innumerable spherical outcroppings of the respiratory bronchioles in the mammalian lung, the primary sites of gas exchange with the blood an anatomical structure continuous with the trachea found in some insects... Windpipe redirects here. ... For other uses, see Underwater (disambiguation). ... Animal communication is any behaviour on the part of one animal that has an effect on the current or future behaviour of another animal. ... Mate may refer to: Relationships: Mate (term), a term for a friend, especially in the United Kingdom and Australasia; also used to address strangers One of a pair of animals, sometimes also applied to a human partner; see mating Nautical: A deck officer on a merchant marine vessel, usually ranked... This article is about the unit of length. ... A foot (plural: feet or foot;[1] symbol or abbreviation: ft or, sometimes, ′ – a prime) is a unit of length, in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... Look up pound in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Habitat

The Ribbon Seal lives in the Arctic parts of the Pacific Ocean. During winter and spring, it hauls out on pack ice to breed, molt, and give birth. During this time, it is found at the ice front in the Bering and Okhotsk Seas.^[2] During the summer and autumn, the Ribbon Seal lives in open water, though some move north as the ice recedes with warmer temperatures. Little is known about their habits during this time, as they are so far from land and human observation. The Ribbon Seal almost never comes to land. An icebreaker navigates some through young (1 year) sea ice Sea ice is formed from ocean water that freezes. ... A breed is a domesticated subspecies or infrasubspecies of an animal. ... In birds, moulting or molting is the routine shedding of old feathers. ... An ice front is the place where the glacier thins and ends. ... Satellite photo of the Bering Sea Bering Sea and the North Pacific Ocean Bearing Sea with Kamchatka Peninsula and Alaska The Bering (or Imarpik) Sea is a body of water north of, and separated from, the north Pacific Ocean by the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands. ... The Sea of Okhotsk (from the Russian Okhotskoe more) is a part of the western Pacific Ocean, lying between the Kamchatka Peninsula and the disputed Russo-Japanese Kurile Islands on the east, the Japanese island of Hokkaido to the south and the island of Sakhalin, the Amur province of Siberia... Open Water is a 2003 film inspired by a true story about an American couple, Tom and Eileen Lonergan, who in 1998 went out with a scuba diving group, Outer Edge Dive Company, into the South Pacific. ... An icebreaker navigates some through young (1 year) sea ice Sea ice is formed from ocean water that freezes. ...

Ribbon seal

Behaviour

Its diet consists almost exclusively of pelagic creatures: fish like pollock, eelpout, arctic cod and cephalopods such as squid or octopus; young seals eat crustaceans as well. The Ribbon Seal dives to depths of up to 200m in search of food. The Ribbon Seal is solitary and forms no herds. Female Ribbon Seals reach sexual maturity at 2 to 5 years and males reach sexual maturity at 3 to 6 years, and an individual may reach twenty to twenty-five years of age. Mating takes place from late April to early May.^[2] Young animals are born on the ice in April and May. They are fed for four weeks on their mother's milk, then leave their mother. They remain on the ice for a few more weeks, in which they lose their dense white fur and lose a drastic amount of weight. After this period, they are able to dive and hunt by themselves. The pelagic zone is the part of the open sea or ocean comprising the water column, i. ... Species Pollachius pollachius Pollachius virens Pollock (or pollack, pronounced the same and listed first in most UK and US dictionaries) is the common name used for either of the two species of marine fish in the Pollachius genus. ... The eelpouts are a family (Zoarcidae) of perciform ray-finned fish. ... Binomial name Arctogadus glacialis The Arctic cod (Arctogadus glacialis) is a deepwater fish closely related to the true cod (genus Gadus). ... Orders Sepiida Sepiolida Spirulida Teuthida Octopoda Vampyromorphida Nautilida The Cephalopods (head-foot) are the mollusc class Cephalopoda characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head, and a modification of the mollusc foot into the form of arms or tentacles. ... For the Dutch band, see Crustacean (band). ... Look up Solitary in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Sexual maturity is the age/stage when an organism can reproduce. ... Sexual maturity is the age/stage when an organism can reproduce. ... This article or section needs additional references or sources to improve its verifiability. ... For other uses, see May (disambiguation). ... This article or section needs additional references or sources to improve its verifiability. ... For other uses, see May (disambiguation). ...

Predators of the Ribbon Seal include the Killer Whale, the Greenland Shark and the Polar Bear. This snapping turtle is trying to make a meal of a Canada goose, but the goose is too wary. ... Binomial name Orcinus orca Linnaeus, 1758 Orca range (in blue) The orca (Orcinus orca), commonly known as the killer whale, and sometimes called the grampus, is the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. ... Binomial name Somniosus microcephalus Bloch & Schneider, 1801 Range of the Greenland shark The Greenland shark, Somniosus microcephalus, also known as the sleeper shark, gurry shark, ground shark or grey shark, is a large shark native to the waters of the North Atlantic Ocean around Greenland and Iceland. ... This article is about the animal. ...

Protection

Young Ribbon Seals look like young Harp Seals, and like these, they were hunted for their fur. Since they do not form herds, ribbon seals were more difficult to catch than Harp Seals. Since the Soviet Union limited the hunt on Ribbon Seals in 1969, their population has recovered. The current population is around 250,000. Binomial name Erxleben, 1777 // Harp seals resemble harbor seals in body and head form, but are larger: adult Harp Seals grow to 1. ...

In March 2008 the US government agreed to study Alaska's Ribbon Seal population and is considering adding it to the endangered species list. This is likely a direct result of warming of the oceans which is decreasing the winter ice flows.^{[citation needed]} United States may refer to: Places: United States of America SS United States, the fastest ocean liner ever built. ...

References

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

• Overview pages on ribbon seals (Histriophoca fasciata) hosted by:
  • Alaska Sea Grant Marine Education
  • National Marine Mammal Laboratory, AFSC, NOAA
  • Seal Conservation Society
  • Alaska Department Fish & Game
• Range map on OBIS*SEAMAP