Spotted seals are a small species, and can be identified by their light brightly spotted bodies.

Description. Spotted seals are 140 to 190 cm long, and weigh 50 to 150 kg. They have slim bodies, distinct necks and long snouts. Their colors vary from dark, almost black, to light straw with numerous spots of different sizes all over the body, especially tightly placed along the backs. Sometimes there are light rings as well. Their bellies are lighter than their backs. Pups are born 70 cm long and weigh 8 kg. They have white fur which they shed during the first molting at the age of 2 to 4 weeks, when they begin resembling the adult seals.

Status. Abundant species, object of hunting.

Habitat and Behavior. Spotted seals inhabit the shelf waters of the Sea of Okhotsk, the Sea of Japan, the Bering and Chukchi Seas. In winter they may reach the deep waters going along with the ice formation. In winter they keep to the ice edge and prefer broken hummock ice formations, staying there in groups. Pups are born in March and April, on ice or, sometimes, on the shore. In summer spotted seals concentrate around the salmon river estuaries, come in lagoons and lowstream river regions, sometimes going fat upstream as well. They haul out on sand or pebble islets, sandspits and capes that bare during low tides, where they form large groups of tens to hundreds (sometimes even thousands). At the haul-outs spotted seals tend to be lively and loud; they often roar; when sensing danger, they quickly dive landslide-style. Spotted seals feed on fish and invertebrates.

Similar Species. Harbor seals are usually dark and have characteristic light rings or spots that are visible on their heads, even when underwater. Ringed seals are smaller; they have short plump bodies with round heads. They have distinct ringed pattern along their backs and sides. They are more curious and careless; they do not show their back when diving (as if being tugged underwater by their back flippers). They also prefer large ice formations or ice fields always near to ice holes. Young ribbon seals are uniformly grey with no spots. Bearded seals have massive bodies, relatively small heads, short broad front flippers, and thick whispers with smooth edges. They are uniformly colored. They are slow; they show their backs when swimming, and their back flippers when diving. They always stay close to the edge of the ice in solitary, or in sparse groups.

True seals (lat. Phocidae) can be of various sizes, from really small to rather big. They have streamlined spindle-shaped bodied and rounded heads with no ear flaps. They have short but distinct tails. Their flippers are short and fully covered with fur; they also have well-developed claws. The front flippers are positioned closer to the front end of the body; the back ones are extended backwards and cannot be bent under the body. They have short rough overhair with no distinct fluff. Ringed seals show little to no sexual dimorphism as to their sizes. Most of the Far Eastern subspecies breed on ice; their pups are born in embryotic cover of long soft thick white fur. There are 18 species of true seals in the world; 10 of them can be found in Russia, 5 – in the Far East. s