Pacific Harbor Seal

Phoca vitulina richardii (Gray 1864)

Robin Gwen Agarwal cc-by-nc-4.0

Phoca vitulina richardii (Pacific Harbor Seal) is a subspecies of Mammal in the family true seals. They are carnivores. Individuals can grow to 186 cm. Reproduction is viviparous. They rely on lift powered swimming to move around.

URI: http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q81875
Definition: organism that eats mostly or exclusively animal tissue

show all records

URI: http://www.marinespecies.org/traits/Viviparous
Definition: 1) Producing live offspring from within the body of the parent (Lincoln et al., 1998). 2) Development of an embryo within the body of the parent, in part, resources passing directly from parent to embryo (Barnes et al., 2006).
Attribution: Lincoln, R., Boxshall, G. & Clark, P., 1998. A dictionary of ecology, evolution and systematics (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University of Press. Barnes R.S.K., Calow P., Olive P.J.W., Golding, D.W, and Spicer, J.I. 2006. The invertebrates: a new synthesis, Oxford: Blackwell Science Ltd. http://www.marinespecies.org/traits/wiki/Traits:Viviparous

show all records

URI: https://eol.org/schema/terms/lift_based_swimming
Definition: Hydrofoils, or fins, are used to push against the water to create a normal force to provide thrust, propelling the animal through water. The reduction of fin cross-sectional area helps to minimize drag, and therefore increase efficiency. Regardless of size of the animal, at any particular speed, maximum possible lift is proportional to (wing area) x (speed)<sup>2</sup>. Dolphins and whales have large, horizontal caudal hydrofoils, while many fish and sharks have vertical caudal hydrofoils.

show all records

EOL has data for 20 attributes, including:

Body symmetry
- URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/body_symmetry
- Definition: overall repetitive or reflective pattern in the body of one individual of this taxon. eg: bilateral symmetry, rotational symmetry, radial symmetry
show all records
bilaterally symmetric
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/PATO_0001324
- Definition: being symmetric about a plane running from frontal end to caudal end (head to tail), and having nearly identical right and left halves
show all records
auditory system
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/UBERON_0016490
- Definition: the sensory system for the sense of hearing
show all records
otoliths
- URI: https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q591800
- Definition: Inner-ear structure in vertebrates which detects acceleration and may detect acoustic signals
show all records
body length
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/CMO_0000013
- Definition: A measurement of the longest dimension of a body, typically between two distinct ends of the body.
- Attribution: [database_cross_reference: Dorland:Dorlands_Illustrated_Medical_Dictionary--31st_Ed] [database_cross_reference: ISBN:978-1416049982]
show all records
186 cm
body mass
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/VT_0001259
- Definition: The amount of matter in the body of an organism.
show all records
87 kg
cellularity
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/PATO_0001992
- Definition: An organismal quality inhering in a bearer by virtue of the bearers consisting cells. [ PATOC:GVG ]
show all records
multicellular
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/PATO_0001993
- Definition: A cellularity quality inhering in a bearer by virtue of the bearers consisting of more than one cell. [ PATOC:GVG ]
show all records
eats
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/RO_0002470
show all records
Psettichthys melanostictus Girard 1854 (Pacific sand sole)
habitat
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/RO_0002303
- Definition: x has habitat y if: x is an organism, y is a habitat, and y can sustain and allow the growth of a population of x
show all records
marine
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00000447
- Definition: An aquatic biome that comprises systems of open-ocean and unprotected coastal habitats, characterized by exposure to wave action, tidal fluctuation, and ocean currents as well as systems that largely resemble these. Water in the marine biome is generally within the salinity range of seawater: 30 to 38 ppt.
show all records
locomotion
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GO_0040011
- Definition: Self-propelled movement of a cell or organism from one location to another.
- Attribution: [database_cross_reference: GOC:dgh]
show all records
lift powered swimming
- URI: https://eol.org/schema/terms/lift_based_swimming
- Definition: Hydrofoils, or fins, are used to push against the water to create a normal force to provide thrust, propelling the animal through water. The reduction of fin cross-sectional area helps to minimize drag, and therefore increase efficiency. Regardless of size of the animal, at any particular speed, maximum possible lift is proportional to (wing area) x (speed)<sup>2</sup>. Dolphins and whales have large, horizontal caudal hydrofoils, while many fish and sharks have vertical caudal hydrofoils.
show all records
preys on
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/RO_0002439
- Definition: An interaction relationship involving a predation process, where the subject kills the target in order to eat it or to feed to siblings, offspring or group members
show all records
Enteroctopus dofleini (Wülker 1910) (Giant Pacific Octopus)
trophic guild
- URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/TrophicGuild
- Definition: A group of species that exploit the same food resources, and/or use the same feeding or foraging methods. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guild_(ecology)
show all records
piscivore
- URI: http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1420208
- Definition: carnivorous animal which eats primarily fish.
show all records
type specimen repository
- URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/TypeSpecimenRepository
- Definition: The institution that holds a type specimen for a given species. The recommended best practice is to use the identifier in a collections registry such as the Biodiversity Collections Index (http://www.biodiversitycollectionsindex.org/).
show all records
NHMUK
visual system
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/UBERON_0002104
- Definition: The sensory system subserving the sense of vision.
show all records
apposition eyes
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/IDOMAL_0002229
- Definition: A compound eye with no separation between the crystalline-cone layer and the retinula, each rhabdom receiving light only from its own corneal lens.
show all records

Known occurrences, collected specimens and observations of Pacific harbor seal from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility

GBIF provides free and open access to biodiversity data. View this species on GBIF

Robin Gwen Agarwal cc-by-nc-4.0