What Do Seals Eat? A Full Analysis of Seal Feeding Habits
Seal is a general term for animals of the family Phocidae in the suborder Pinnipedia. Their bodies are thick and round, spindle-shaped, and covered all over with short fur, blue-gray on the back and creamy yellow on the belly, with blue-black spots. The head is nearly round, the eyes are large and round, and there are no external ear flaps. The muzzle is short and broad, and the whiskers on the upper lip are long, thick and stiff, bead-shaped. They are distributed throughout the entire ocean, with the largest numbers along the coast of Antarctica. Now let us take a look at what seals eat!
What do seals eat?
Seals usually feed mainly on fish, and also eat crustaceans and cephalopods. Seals are very strong swimmers, reaching speeds of up to 27 kilometers per hour, and they are also good divers, generally able to dive about 100 meters, while the Weddell seal in the Antarctic waters can dive more than 600 meters deep and stay under for 43 minutes. Seals mainly prey on various fish and cephalopods, and sometimes also eat crustaceans. They have a huge appetite: a seal weighing 60 to 70 kilograms eats 7 to 8 kilograms of fish a day.
The Living Habits of Seals
Seals live in cold temperate oceans. Apart from the pupping, resting and molting seasons, when they need to come onto ice, sandy beaches or rocky reefs, they spend the rest of their time swimming, feeding or playing in the sea. They do not gather in groups during the breeding season. After the pups are born, they form family groups, and once the nursing period is over, the family groups break up. They give birth on the ice, and only after the ice melts do the young begin to live independently in the water. A few individuals whose breeding period is delayed have no choice but to give birth on the sandy beaches along the coast.
The Population Distribution of Seals
Seals are distributed in the vicinity of the Arctic and Antarctic and in temperate or tropical oceans. Members of the family Phocidae can be broadly divided into two groups, northern and southern, which can be placed in the subfamilies Phocinae and Monachinae respectively. The distribution of Phocinae is basically limited to the Northern Hemisphere, while Monachinae, besides the Southern Hemisphere, can also be seen in the southern part of the Northern Hemisphere. The number of seal species in the Arctic region (7 species) is somewhat greater than in the Antarctic (4 species).
The Conservation Status of Seals
In 2009, the European Union legislated to ban trade within the EU of seal products obtained from commercial hunting, and the Russian government also banned commercial seal slaughter in Russia. In the United States, International Seal Day is March 22 each year. Canada's "International Day of Action Against Commercial Seal Hunting" is set on March 15 each year. Environmental groups in China, meanwhile, treat March 1 as International Seal Day.