Pictures and facts about the Ross seal

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Ross seal

Order : Carnivora
Family : Phocidae
Species : Ommatophoca rossii

The Ross seal (Ommatophoca rossii) is one of a kind, it is the only seal whose geographic range is confined to the Antarctic. They are found at areas of average to densely-packed ice, and the places they inhabit are quite isolated, and difficult to navigate through. It is one principal reason why there is just scant data on the habitats, other than the ones I mentioned.

The average Ross seal weighs from 150 to 215kgs, but do not get so impressed with it. Fact is, Ross seals are the most humble of all seals in the Antarctic, size-wise. One has short hair, a dark dorsal surface, a silver ventral surface and on its head/neck, streaks are present. How do we differentiate by sight a Ross seal from its cousins? One is that they have big eyes, which are not in proportion.

The breeding happens in December, while the newborns (the pups) materialize sometime in November, and on the average...just one offspring. A female's reproductive maturity happens on the average, at about 3 years, and the same could be said for the males.

The Ross seal male has been recorded to go to 21 years of age, and the oldest from the distaff side was 19, but of course, it is not impossible that one of these days, we might just see another seal "break the record", so to speak.

This seal is believed to be solitary in nature. According to expert studies, just about 3 to 9 percent had been sighted in pairs, but these figures could actually be quite far from the truth, as other biologists believe.

What do they survive on: fish and squid beaks are among them. Experts have come up with these figures as far as breaking down their "diet" is concerned: cephalopods (64%), fish (22%) while other forms of invertebrates would go down as 14%.

Did you know you can distinguish seals from sea lions by looking at their ears? Visible ear flaps are absent with seals.

Facts about the Ross seal

Rarest of the Antarctic seals, Ross seals are the least documented of Antarctic seals because they are so infrequently

rossii) The Ross seal is the smallest of the Antarctic seals (approx.

The Ross seal is the smallest, least numerous and least studied Antarctic seal species.

Geographic Range Ross Seals are unique in that they are the only Antarctic seal whose range is restricted to the Antarctic seas, and they have never been documented in extra-polar regions (Allen 1942). (Full text)

The Ross seal is the rarest in Antarctica as well as the smallest. (Full text)

Ross Seals are identified by the short heads and rather large eyes. (Full text)

Distribution The Ross seal is found along the Antarctic pack ice and near smooth (Full text)

Heisler and Students, The Ross seal is very rare. (Full text)

The Ross seal is the least understood species of pack-ice seal, being rarely seen and inhabiting the most inaccessible regions of the pack-ice. (Full text)

Ross Seals are very rarely seen, as they live deep within the consolidated pack-ice. (Full text)

The Ross seal is believed to be able to feed at depths of several hundred feet, where its large eyes aid underwater vision. (Full text)

Ross seals are perhaps the least understood of Antarctic seals. (Full text)

Ross seals are the least studied of all Antarctic seals, due to their dispersed and isolated distribution. (Full text)

Distribution and Habitat The Ross seal is circumpolar but patchily distributed in the pack ice zone of the Antarctic (Full text)

Nordøy, University of Tromsø Lifestyle Ross seals are the least studied of the Antarctic seals due (Full text)

The Ross seal is however the rarest of the four seal species breeding on the Antarctic pack ice, and one population estimate has been made of about 220,000. (Full text)

The Ross seal (Ommatophoca rossii) is the least frequently sighted and least known of the Antarctic pinnipeds. (Full text)

Ross seals are named for James Clark Ross, the commander (Full text)