Ribbon Seal

Photo © Kathy Frost

See a 3-D animation of a ribbon seal skull.

Read Arctic Science Journeys Radio stories and listen to audio:

• Past Tense Ice

Distribution/Migration: Arctic, North Pacific. Follow ice: range farther south in heavy ice (cold) years. Movements in ice-free months uncertain but probably pelagic in Bering and Chukchi seas. Pink shows summer range, purple shows year-round.

This web page is modified from the book Marine Mammals of Alaska by Kate Wynne, illustrated by Pieter Folkens, available at the Alaska Sea Grant Bookstore.

SIZE: Average adult 5 ft (1.5 m), 150 lbs. At birth 3 ft (1 m), 25 lbs.

BODY: Medium size seal with long neck, large dark eyes. Fur has distinctive color pattern.

COLOR: All >1 yr old have light bands on dark background encircling the neck, each front flipper, and torso. Background darker on males than females. Pups born with lanugo (soft wooly hair), molt after 4 weeks to first-year coat of blue-gray back with light sides.

BEHAVIOR: Not wary when hauled out on ice. Run across ice (using alternating front legs, swinging hindquarters) rather than using caterpillar movement like most seals. Seldom seen in water. Surface with very little of head showing.

HABITAT: Ice-associated, rarely haul out on land. Southern edge of sea ice winter and spring. Probably pelagic summer and fall.

FOOD HABITS: Eat a variety of pelagic fish and invertebrates: shrimp, crabs, squid, cod, sculpin, pollock, capelin, eelpouts.

LIFE HISTORY: Sexually mature at 3–5 yrs. Breed in May. Single pup per yr born early April on open ice floes after 11-mo gestation. Lactation is 3–4 wks. Molt annually before ice recedes (March–July). May live 30 yrs.

STATUS AND HUMAN INTERACTIONS: Status unknown. Heavy commercial harvest in 1960s by Russian sealers has been reduced to about 4000 per yr. Alaska Native subsistence harvest of <200 per yr for meat, fur, oil. Vulnerable to reduction in sea ice.