Harp seal

The harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus), also known as Saddleback Seal or Greenland Seal, is a species of earless seal, or true seal, native to the northernmost Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Ocean. Originally in the genus Phoca with a number of other species, it was reclassified into the monotypic genus Pagophilus in 1844. In Greek, its scientific name translates to "ice-lover from Greenland," and its taxonomic synonym, Phoca groenlandica translates to "Greenlandic seal." This is the only species in the genus Pagophilus. The mature harp seal has pure black eyes. It has a silver-gray fur covering its body, with black harp or wishbone-shaped markings dorsally. Adult harp seals grow to be long and weigh from . The harp seal pup often has a yellow-white coat at birth due to staining from amniotic fluid, but after one to three days, the coat turns white and stays white for 2–3 weeks, until the first molt. Adolescent harp seals have a silver-gray coat spotted with black. Harp seals are considered sexually dimorphic, as the males are slightly larger, and more decorated. Males weigh an average of , and reach a length up to , while females weigh an average of and reach up to . Males generally have a more defined dorsal harp marking and a darker head, while some females never develop the marking and remain spotted. Compared to other phocid seals, the harp seal dives from shallow to moderately deep depths. Dive depth varies with season, time of day and location. In the Greenland Sea sub-population, the average dive rate is around 8.3 dives per hour and dives range from a depth of less than 20 to over 500 m. Dive duration ranges from less than two minutes to just over 20 minutes. During the spring and summer when seals forage along the pack ice in the Greenland Sea, most dives are less than 50 m. In the late fall and winter, dive depth has been found to increase, particularly in the Denmark Strait, where the mean dive depth was found to be 141 m. Lactating female harp seals spend about 80% of the time in the water and 20% of the time on the fast ice weaning or near their pups.