Phocidae, from Latin phoca (“seal”) in reference to the fact that all the members of this family are seals.

Common names of members

Earless seals

Distribution  

Mostly Arctic and Antarctica.

Size

They vary from 1.17 m in length and 45 kg in weight to 5.8 m and 4,000 kg.

Morphology

They have streamlined fusiform bodies, tapered at both ends, with no ears and long whiskers. Their pectoral, or fore, flippers are short and webbed with five bony digits. The digits are about the same length and each has a blunt claw, around one to two inches long. In the water, the fore flippers are used for steering. The webbed hind flippers also have five bony digits.

Habitat & Ecology

Ocean, ice floes, a few in freshwater regions.

Diet

Obligate carnivores, preying on octopuses, lobsters, fish, eels, mackerel, and squids, they make use of at least four different feeding strategies: suction feeding, grip, and tear feeding, filter feeding, and pierce feeding. Each of these feeding strategies is aided by a specialized skull, mandible, and tooth morphology. However, despite morphological specialization, most phocids are opportunistic and employ multiple strategies to capture and eat prey.

Reproduction 

They mate on beaches or ice floes. The male will fight for territories. The male with larger territory will have more mating chances. Females give birth to pups on beaches or ice floes when food is abundant for them to produce milk.

Species known in Hong Kong

0

Total species known

1`9

Species in the collection

2

Species in Hong Kong

0

- Reference

Wozencraft, W. C. (2005). Order Carnivora In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (Eds). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. Johns Hopkins University Press.

Macdonald, D. W. (2006). The Encyclopedia of mammals. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780199206087.001.0001.

Kienle, S. S., Berta, A. (2015). The better to eat you with: the comparative feeding morphology of phocid seals (Pinnipedia, Phocidae). Journal of Anatomy, 228(3), 396-413. https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.12410.