How To Draw A Harp Seal

An adult harp seal and pup on ice - Photo: NOAA Fisheries

An adult harp seal and pup on ice - Photo: NOAA Fisheries

About the Species

Harp seals alive throughout the cold waters of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. 3 populations in the Barents Sea, East Coast of Greenland, and Northwest Atlantic Ocean are recognized based on geographic distribution also every bit morphological, genetic, and behavioral differences. These seals are named later the black patch on their back, which looks like a harp.

Harp seals gather in large groups of up to several yard to molt and breed. Although they live in cold water, harp seal pups are born without whatsoever protective fat. Newborns quickly develop a thick layer of blubber while nursing.

Harp seals, similar all marine mammals, are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. NOAA Fisheries is committed to conserving and protecting harp seals. Our scientists and partners use a variety of innovative techniques to study, learn more near, and protect this species.

Population Status

To manage harp seals in U.S. waters, we have grouped them into western North Atlantic stock. Based on the most recent survey, our scientists estimate that in that location are about vii one thousand thousand seals in this stock.

Acquire more nigh our estimates for population size in our stock assessment reports

Protected Status

MMPA Protected

• Throughout Its Range

Appearance

Harp seals are part of the true seal family. All truthful seals have curt flippers, which they use to motion in a caterpillar-like motion on country. They do not have external ear flaps.

Harp seals are about 5 to 6 feet long, counterbalance almost 260 to 300 pounds, and have a robust body with a small, flat caput. They accept a narrow snout and viii pairs of teeth in both the upper and lower jaws. Their front flippers accept thick, strong claws, while their back flippers have smaller, narrower claws.

Adult harp seals have light gray fur with a black mask on their face and a curved black patch on their dorsum. This black patch looks like a harp and is the source of the species' mutual name. Some animals have dark spots randomly scattered over their entire body. Adults molt, or shed, their fur every jump.

Harp seal pups take long, wooly, white fur known every bit lanugo that lasts until virtually 3 to 4 weeks old. This white fur helps blot sunlight and trap rut to keep the pups warm. Pups molt several times during their development.

Behavior and Nutrition

Harp seals assemble on pack ice in large groups during breeding and molting seasons. These groups tin comprise upwardly to several one thousand seals. Harp seals also feed and travel in large groups during seasonal migrations. They often travel abroad from the pack ice during the summer and follow the ice due north to feed in the Arctic. Annual migrations can be more than iii,100 miles roundtrip.

Harp seals can swoop up to 1,300 feet beneath the surface and remain underwater for about 16 minutes. They eat many (more than 130 species) different types of fish and invertebrates. Some seals have been constitute with more than 65 species of fish and 70 species of invertebrates in their stomachs. Their most common type of casualty is smaller fish such as capelin, Arctic cod, and polar cod.

Lifespan & Reproduction

The maximum lifespan of a harp seal is approximately thirty years. Males are sexually mature at seven to eight years of age and females at four to seven years of age. Females give nativity from late February through mid-March. They volition only give birth during the curt catamenia of time when pack ice is available, as the ice provides a place to nurse their pups.
At nascency, newborn harp seals weigh nearly 25 pounds and are about 3 feet long. They nurse on high-fat milk for about 12 days. During this time, they gain about 5 pounds per day and develop a thick blab layer. Harp seals wean when they reach around fourscore pounds.
After weaning, adult females leave their pups on the pack ice. The pups stay on the ice without eating for near six weeks. They can lose upwards to half of their body weight before they enter the water and get-go feeding on their own.

Threats

Hunting

Commercial hunters have captured harp seals in Canada for meat and oil since the 1600s. The Canada Department of Fisheries and Oceans sets an almanac total commanded take hold of for commercial, aboriginal, and personal use hunting. Hunting likewise occurred in Greenland.

Vessel Strikes

Inadvertent vessel strikes can injure or kill harp seals. Harp seals are vulnerable to vessel collisions throughout their range, but the risk is much college in some coastal areas with heavy transport traffic.

Entanglement

Harp seals can get entangled in fishing gear and other types of marine debris, either pond off with the gear fastened or condign anchored. They can become entangled in many different gear types, including gillnets, trawls, bag seines, or weirs. Once entangled, seals may drown if they cannot reach the surface to exhale, or they may drag and swim with fastened gear for long distances, ultimately resulting in fatigue, compromised feeding power, or severe injury, which may pb to reduced reproductive success and death.

Chemical Contaminants

Contaminants enter ocean waters from many sources, including oil and gas development, wastewater discharges, urban runoff, and other industrial processes. Once in the environment, these substances move up the nutrient concatenation and accumulate in predators near the top, such as harp seals. Because of their blab stores, harp seals accumulate these contaminants in their bodies, threatening their allowed and reproductive systems.

Oil Spills and Energy Exploration

Offshore oil and gas exploration and development also accept the potential to bear upon harp seals. The almost meaning chance posed by these activities is the accidental or illegal belch of oil or other toxic substances due to their immediate and potentially long-term effects. If exposed to oil, a harp seal's fur can no longer repel water. This makes it hard for the seal to swim, bladder, and go along warm. Inhaling or swallowing oil tin can harm a seal'southward respiratory, digestive, reproductive, and central nervous systems. Oil can as well irritate or fire the seal's skin.

Climate Change

Harp seals rely on the availability of suitable sea ice as a haul-out platform for giving nativity, nursing pups, and molting. As such, harp seals are sensitive to changes in the environment that affect the timing and extent of ocean ice formation and breakdown.

Scientific Classification

Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Chordata
Class	Mammalia
Order	Carnivora
Family unit	Phocidae
Genus	Pagophilus
Species	groenlandicus

Concluding updated by NOAA Fisheries on 04/twenty/2022

Source: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/harp-seal

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