Ringed Seal

The ringed seal is the smallest pinniped and has a compact body, small head, and short cat-like snout. Adults usually have a dark coat marked by pale silver rings across the back and sides and a silver-colored belly. Their foreflippers carry strong, thick claws used to maintain breathing holes through ice. Newborn pups possess an insulating white woolly coat that is shed within approximately three weeks. Across its subspecies, adult length ranges from 1.1 to 1.75 m and mass from 32 to 124 kg. (Animal Diversity Web)

Ringed seals occur throughout seasonally ice-covered northern seas, with isolated populations in the Baltic and northern European lakes. Records extend southward in the Pacific to Zhejiang, China. They rest, give birth, and molt on pack ice, often near self-maintained breathing holes or cracks. Females construct snow-covered birth lairs above breathing holes, providing pups with shelter from severe weather. The diet changes with season and locality but includes polar and Arctic cod, other fishes, shrimp, amphipods, euphausiids, mysids, cephalopods, and additional crustaceans. (Animal Diversity Web)