Ringed seal (Pusa hispida)

Physical characteristics

Ringed seals have a compact body, short snout and foreflippers with strong claws used to maintain breathing holes in ice. Their fur pattern — dark spots with pale rings — gives them their common name and helps break up their outline on ice and in water. They have the basic features of earless seals: no external ear pinnae, streamlined shape for efficient swimming, and a thick blubber layer for insulation in cold waters. Young pups are born with a lanugo coat that they lose as they grow.

Distribution and habitat

Ringed seals occupy a broad circumpolar range, from the central Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas to sub-Arctic waters. Populations are found across the Arctic and sub-Arctic region, including areas of the Arctic and the northern Pacific such as the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk and northern Japan, as well as across the North Atlantic coasts near Greenland and Scandinavia. Two well-known isolated freshwater populations occur in northern Europe as distinct subspecies (freshwater subspecies), restricted to lakes where they evolved after glacial isolation. Ringed seals rely on sea ice and shorefast ice for resting, moulting, and raising pups.

Behavior, reproduction and life cycle

Ringed seals are solitary or occur in loose aggregations and are most active at sea beneath the ice where they forage. They excavate and maintain breathing holes through ice with their foreflipper claws and build snow lairs on top of sea ice in which females give birth and shelter pups. Breeding occurs in late winter and pups are born in spring; pups are nursed on high-fat milk for a period of weeks to a couple of months before the first moult. The species has adaptations for diving and can remain submerged for extended periods while hunting fish and invertebrates.

Diet and predators

The diet of ringed seals consists mainly of small fish and marine invertebrates, which they capture beneath the ice. As a key component of the Arctic food web, ringed seals are the primary prey of polar bears and are also taken by other predators, including Arctic foxes (often scavenging or taking young pups) and some cetaceans. Their close ecological link to polar bears makes them important both biologically and culturally.

Human uses, conservation and notable facts

Ringed seals have long been important to Indigenous peoples of the Arctic for food, clothing and oil, and they remain central to many traditional livelihoods; Indigenous knowledge continues to inform management. Conservation concerns center on loss and thinning of sea ice caused by climate change, which reduces suitable habitat for breathing holes, lair construction and pup rearing. Other pressures include pollution, disturbance, and localized hunting or bycatch. Some isolated populations, notably the lake subspecies, are of particular conservation concern and have attracted targeted protection measures. Management and research often combine scientific monitoring with local knowledge and international cooperation.

Further reading and resources

• General biology and identification: earless seals overview
• Range maps and regional reports: Inuit and local knowledge resources, Arctic studies, Arctic Ocean information
• Regional ecosystems: Bering Sea, Okhotsk and northern Japan, Greenland, Scandinavia
• Subspecies and freshwater populations: lake populations
• Predator-prey relationships: polar bear interactions