The harbor (or harbour) seal (Phoca vitulina), commonly known as the common seal, is a genuine seal that lives along the Northern Hemisphere’s temperate and Arctic coastal coasts. Walruses eared seals and genuine seals are the most extensively dispersed pinniped species, occurring in the northern Atlantic, Pacific Oceans, Baltic, and North Seas.

Harbor seals have V-shaped noses and are brown, silvery-white, tan, or gray in color. Adults can grow to be 1.85 m (6.1 ft) long and weigh up to 168 kg (370 lb). The seal’s body temperature is maintained by the blubber under its skin. Females outlive males by 30–35 years compared to 20–25 years for males.

Harbor seals return to their favorite resting locations or haulout sites, which are usually rocky regions (though ice, sand, and mud may also be utilized) where they are shielded from the elements and predators and are close to a feeding area. Males may compete for mates both in the sea and on land. After a nine-month gestation, females give birth to a single pup, which they must care for on their own. Babies may weigh up to 16 kg (35 lb) and can swim and dive as soon as they are born. They grow fast on their mothers’ fat-rich milk, and after four to six weeks, they are weaned.

Harbor seals have a worldwide population of 350,000–500,000, although subspecies in specific environments are endangered. Sealing, which was once prevalent, is now prohibited in several countries within the animal’s habitat.

Each harbor seal has a distinct pattern of spots, either black on a light backdrop or light on a dark background. They range in hue from brownish-black to tan or grey, with lighter underparts. The body is small, as are the flippers, and the heads are rounded. The nostrils have a characteristic V shape. There is no pinna on genuine seals, as there is on other true seals (ear flap). Behind the eye, an ear canal may be visible. They may reach an adult length of 1.85 meters (6.1 feet) and a weight of 55 to 168 kg, including the head and flippers (120 to 370 lb). Females are smaller than males in general.

Harbor seals tend to return to their favorite resting spots. They may spend several days at sea, traveling up to 50 kilometers in search of feeding grounds and swimming more than a hundred miles upstream into fresh water in big rivers in quest of migratory fish such as shad and, most likely, salmon.

Rugged, rocky shores, such as those of the Hebrides or the New England shorelines, or sandy beaches, such as those that surround Normandy in Northern France or the Outer Banks of North Carolina, may be used as resting places.

Harbor seals cluster in ports, bays, sandy intertidal zones, and estuaries in search of prey species like salmon, anchovies, sea bass, herring, mackerel, cod, whiting, and flatfish, as well as shrimp, crabs, mollusks, and squid.

Deeper-dwelling fish of the genus Ammodytes is also used as a food source by Atlantic subspecies in either Europe or North America, while Pacific subspecies have sometimes been observed eating fish of the genus Oncorhynchus. Dives of over 500 meters have been reported, despite the fact that they are mostly coastal. Several types of ducks have been attacked, killed, and eaten by harbor seals.

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