Ringed seal
Amazing fact
Ringed seals use strong claws on their foreflippers to make and maintain breathing holes in the ice.
NOAA Fisheries
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
Ringed seals use strong claws on their foreflippers to make and maintain breathing holes in the ice.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Ringed seal
- Scientific name
- Pusa hispida
- Japanese name
- ワモンアザラシ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Carnivora
- Family
- Phocidae
- Genus
- Pusa
A seal of the Arctic Ocean, the Sea of Okhotsk and other northern seas. It eats fish, octopus, crabs and shrimp.
Small, light-colored rings are scattered over the dark fur on its back. These rings give it its name.
Pups are born and raised in snow caves on the ice, which protect them from the bitter cold.
How the Ringed seal lives
In autumn, it stores fat for winter. It eats less during the spring molt. As the snow melts in spring, it comes onto the ice surface to bask. It is usually found alone.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebNOAA FisheriesBasic data
- Size
- Body length: 1.4 m
- Weight
- 90 kg
- Diet
- Fish, octopuses, crabs, shrimp, and shellfish
- Range
- Arctic Ocean, North Atlantic, North Pacific, and Sea of Okhotsk
Where the Ringed seal has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- ワモンアザラシ
- 简体中文
- 环海豹
- 繁體中文
- 環海豹
- 한국어
- 고리무늬물범
- Español
- Foca ocelada
- Français
- Phoque annelé
- Deutsch
- Ringelrobbe
- Português (Brasil)
- Foca-anelada
- Italiano
- Foca dagli anelli
- العربية
- فقمة حلقية
- Tiếng Việt
- Hải cẩu đeo vòng
- Русский
- Кольчатая нерпа
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- おたる水族館 — ワモンアザラシChecked: 2026-11-03
- NOAA Fisheries — Ringed sealChecked: 2026-11-03
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Pusa hispidaChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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