A DESCRIPTION OF COMMON SEALS, PHOCA VITULINA L. 1758, FROM SVALBARD

• Published in: Marine Mammal Science
• Main Author: Wiig, ØYstein
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1989
• Subjects: Aquatic Science; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Svalbard; Prins Karls Forland; common seal; Phoca vitulina; Rossøya
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-7692.1989.tb00329.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1748-7692.1989.tb00329.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1748-7692.1989.tb00329.x

A bstract The present analysis confirms that the northernmost record of common seals ( Phoca vitulina ) in the world is at Svalbard nearly at 81°N. The population at Prins Karls Forland, Svalbard, is about 900 km away from any other population of common seals and may be termed insular. External and cranial characters of three common seals caught at Prins Karls Forland, and one common seal caught at Rossøya, all at Svalbard, are described. The only three available skins from Svalbard common seals are of a light phase color type. The skulls are characterized by a narrow interorbital width and a posterior extent of the palato‐vomerine septum which is greater than that described for Atlantic common seals. A detailed description of the morphology of Atlantic common seals is highly needed.