Ringed Seal
Ringed seals produce underwater barks, yelps, and clicks. This audiograph presents one of their vocalizations. These small Arctic seals can live beneath extensive ice cover, maintaining breathing holes with their sharp claws. Calls occur beyond the breeding season, while recent research on the freshwater Saimaa subspecies suggests some calls may also play a role in mating.
Ringed Seal Facts
LATIN NAME Pusa hispida.
LENGTH Adults average about 1.2–1.4 meters (4–4.5 feet), with size varying among subspecies and populations.
WEIGHT About 50–70 kg (110–150 pounds).
LIFETIME About 25–30 years.
PHYSICAL TRAITS The smallest Arctic seal, named for the light-colored rings on its dark coat. Its strong front claws help it maintain breathing holes in ice.
BEHAVIOR Ringed seals produce simple barks, yelps, and clicks in the frequency range of 0.4–16 kHz. These underwater vocalizations are heard year-round, but this does not rule out a reproductive role. A 2025 study of the freshwater Saimaa subspecies found that knocking calls peaked around the presumed mating season; the researchers suggest these calls may attract mates or help defend underwater mating territories.
HABITAT Ringed seals can live in areas that are completely covered with ice. They use their sharp claws to make and maintain their own breathing holes through the ice, which may be 6 feet or more in thickness. In winter through early spring, they also carve out lairs in snow drifts over their breathing holes. These lairs shelter pups; loss of snow and ice as the climate warms threatens this habitat.
LOCATIONS Ringed seals are circumpolar and range throughout the Arctic Basin and southward into adjacent seas, including the Bering and Labrador Seas. They are also found in the Sea of Okhotsk and Sea of Japan in the western North Pacific and the Baltic Sea in the North Atlantic. Freshwater subspecies live in Lake Ladoga in Russia and Lake Saimaa in Finland.
FOOD Ringed seals are opportunistic and eat a variety of invertebrates, fish, and amphipods. The particular species eaten depends on availability, depth of water, and distance from shore. In Alaska waters, the important food species are arctic cod, saffron cod, shrimps, and other crustaceans.
PREDATORS Polar bears are the primary natural predator in the Arctic; Arctic foxes also prey on pups.
