Name
- English: Atlantic Bearded Seal
- Latin: Erignatus barbatus barbatus
- Dutch: Atlantische Baardrob
Family
Atlantic Bearded Seal
→ Bearded Seals
→ True Seals
| In average | Males | Females | Pups | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Length in meters | 2,25-2,70 | 0,80-1,20 | ||
| Weight in kilogram | 225-340 | 25-40 | ||
| Life expectancy in years | ||||
| Number of animals nowadays | ||||
| Colour(s) | Brown-grey with red | Dark coloured with white spots | ||
| Habitat | Seas round the North Pole |
Additional information
Atlantic bearded seals are brown-grey coloured and sometimes have a red nape and head. The pups are dark coloured with white spots on their back and flippers. Their fur is wooly. Atlantic bearded seals have very broad flippers. These are almost square. These seals have a round shaped, pinched head. Their snout is broad and thick with broad nostrils. The Atlantic bearded seals' long, yellow-coloured vibrissa, due to their helical shape, look like a beard. Contrary to other arctic seals the female bearded seals have 4 nipples instead of 2.
The Atlantic bearded seals' meal mainly contains vetebrates like shellfish, crustaceans and chaetopodes. But also codfish and plaice belong to the its meals.
During the breeding season Atlantic bearded seals blow bubbles under water and make peculiar sounds. It sounds like a long vibrating whistle with a decreasing pitch. This probably has something to do with marking an animals' territory. Pups are born during spring on ice floes.
The Atlantic bearded seal is hunted by the local populations for supplying their daily necessities of life. These days commercial purposes play an increasing role in hunting this seal.