HOODED SEAL (Cystophora cristata): Western North Atlantic Stock STOCK DEFINITION AND GEOGRAPHIC RANGE

• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1995
• Subjects: Arctic; Canada; Greenland; Newfoundland; Svalbard; Cystophora cristata; Davis Strait; Denmark Strait; hooded seal; North Atlantic; Northwest Atlantic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.639.2575; http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/publications/tm/tm114/pdfs/153.pdf

The hooded seal occurs throughout much of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans (King 1983) preferring deeper water and occurring farther offshore than harp seals (Lavigne and Kovacs 1988). Hooded seals tend to wander far out of their range and have been seen as far south as Puerto Rico, with increased occurrences from Maine to Florida. These appearances u ually occur between January and May. Although it is not known which stock these seals come from, it is known that during this time frame, the Northwest Atlantic stock of hooded seals are at their southern most point of migration in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The worlds ' hooded seal population is divided into three separate stocks, each identified with a specific breeding site (Lavigne and Kovacs 1988). One stock, which whelps off the coast of eastern Canada, is divided into two breeding herds which breed on the pack ice. The Front herd breeds off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Gulf herd breeds in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The second stock breeds on the White Ice off eastern Greenland, and the third stock occurs in the Davis Strait. Hooded seals are a highly migratory species. Breeding occurs at the same time in February for each stock. Adults from all stocks then assemble in the Denmark Strait to moult between June and August (King 1983), and following this, the seals disperse widely. Some move south and west around the southern tip of Greenland, and then north along the west coast of Greenland. Others move to the east and north between Greenland and Svalbard during late summer and early fall (Lavigne and Kovacs 1988). Little else is known about the activities of hooded seals during the rest of the year until