365 Urban Species. #221: Harbor Seal

[urbpan]

Photo by urbpan. Location: Discovery Park, Seattle.

Urban species #221: Harbor seal Phoca vitulina

In the late nineties, when Boston Harbor was a much less pleasant sight than it is today, a dear friend saw a seal swimming in the greasy water. Concerned, she called the New England Aquarium to report an unusual wildlife sighting. They assured her that the harbor seal is an animal that one might expect to see in a harbor, even Boston's. Any northern coastal area unpolluted enough to have some fish swimming in it is likely to have harbor seals. Harbor seals feed on several kinds of near-shore fish, as well as squid, crabs, and mussels. Four different varieties subspecies of harbor seals occur along different coasts North of the equator on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Harbor seals vary in color from very light cream and gray tones, with dark spots, to darker solid brown.

Because harbor seals and humans both value protected coastlines, these animals have been affected by human use of the land for centuries. Humans compete with seals for fish, sometimes with huge nets that entangle them. Polluted water depletes their food supply, and human presence on beaches and tidal flats discourage them from hauling out on land to rest. Arctic people have hunted them for thousands of years, as well. Harbor seals have a fairly small range compared to other marine mammals, staying 15 to 60 miles within shore.

Harbor seals can be seen in the waters of New York City, as well as Boston. They are found all along the Pacific Coast, including the cities of Vancouver and Seattle, as well as San Diego and San Francisco, where they coexist with urban California Sea Lions. Hokkaido, Japan and northern Europe are also home to this seal, variously called common seal, spotted seal, and harbour seal. It can be a delightful experience, to walk along a harbor or other urban waterway, and see the head of a large mammal, with huge brown eyes looking back at you.

Comments

[barbmg.livejournal.com]

I remember when Downey first moved out to San Fran he told me about the first time he went surfing and was startled to see what he thought was a dog accompanying him as he paddled out. We certainly are hard-wired to respond to those big, dark eyes.

[kryptyd.livejournal.com]

Their faces really do look like dog faces. So cute and expressive. And they're really curious too so they swim up to have a good look at you. I love them.

[mooncroneweb.livejournal.com]

On my visit to the Seattle area, I enjoyed seeing the seals poking their heads out of the water and just looking with those big eyes. They do just hang out with just their heads out of the water, just looking at you for a long time. I loved it!

[sarahbliss.livejournal.com]

That icon is beautiful. :o)

[mooncroneweb.livejournal.com]

I got the icon at the art_of_spirit community.

It is contained in a recent posting by someone who had made icons from various Tarot decks. You can take icons from members of the community based on the rules, which are that you must not "hotlink" and you must credit the icon maker. On my userpics page, I also credited the Tarot deck creators at AeclecticTarot.com which is where these images originally came from.

:-D

[droserary.livejournal.com]

(cross-posted picture from my journal)
I just saw four or five harbor seals today in Olympia. They were swimming around a large group of salmon in front of the Capitol Lake dam.

[sebastian-tombs.livejournal.com]

awesome!!

[sebastian-tombs.livejournal.com]

Harbor seals!!!! Yay harbor seals!

[ithriel.livejournal.com]

I love going to San Francisco and Monterey in the hopes of seeing the seals, but usually we see a lot of sea lions. Sea lions stink lol, but it's still fun to see them. Do you guys get the sea lions out there, or just the seals?

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Nope, no sea lions on the north atlantic, just harbor seals.