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Baikal Seal
Sign in to saveAlso known as Phoca sibirica, Pusa sibirica, Lake baikal seal, Nerpa
species of seal
OverviewAI-generated
The Baikal seal (*Pusa sibirica*) is a species of freshwater seal belonging to the family Phocidae within the order Carnivora. It is classified under the class Mammalia and phylum Chordata. The species is endemic to Lake Baikal, for which it is named. Its IUCN conservation status is listed as Least Concern, a designation recorded in 2016.
Biological records indicate a gestation period of 11 months and a litter size of 1.02. The average mass is 90, and the longest observed lifespan is 56 years. The taxon is accepted in the World Register of Marine Species, with the authority cited as (Gmelin, 1788).
Synthesized by Vinony from 37 facts across 6 sources: Wikidata, GBIF, Gbif Occ, WoRMS, IUCN Red List, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Species
Least ConcernBaikal seal
Baikal
SPECIES
- KingdomBacteria
- PhylumPlanctomycetota
- ClassPlanctomycetia
- OrderPirellulales
- FamilyUBA1268
Maximum longevity: 56 years (captivity) Observations: Including a period of delayed implantation, the total gestation lasts just over 9 months (Ronald Nowak 2003). Females breed until they are about 30 years old. One wild specimen was estimated to be 56 years old based on teeth annuli (Thomas et al. 1982). Little is known about their longevity in captivity, but one specimen was still alive at 23.1 years of age (Richard Weigl 2005)
via GBIF · IUCN
~15 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Baikal seal (Pusa sibirica), also known as Lake Baikal seal or nerpa (нерпа), is a species of earless seal endemic to Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia. The Baikal seal is one of the smallest earless/true seals, and one of the few exclusively freshwater pinniped species. The related Caspian seal inhabits another lake, albeit being saltwater, the Caspian Sea. Both species are closely related to the ringed seal, which inhabits the Arctic Ocean.
A subpopulation of inland harbour seals living in the Hudson Bay region of Quebec, Canada (the Lacs des Loups Marins harbour seals), as well as the Saimaa ringed seal and the Ladoga seal (both ringed seal subspecies), are also found in fresh water, but these seals are part of species that also have marine populations, instead of being distinct species.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Baikal Seal” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.