It is often the younger pups that have just started going into the water that these larger animals will feed on. Like the fish lateral line , the whiskers of harbor seals are highly sensitive to …
Sharks, killer whales, and polar bears are three of the largest predators of seals. When in the water they are usually solitary. A colony of grey seals basks in the sun on a sand shelf in Chatham Harbor in Chatham, Mass., Thursday, Sept. 28, 2006. This is due to the fact that they swallow their prey instead of chewing it. Much of the chinook consumption is by harbor seals, which had a bounty on their heads from 1947 to 1960. Harbor Seals. Harbor seals are found along the coasts, near river mouths, on island beaches, reefs and even inland. Harbor seals generally molt 2 to 3 months after pupping, leading to high numbers of them in haul-out locations. They are protected against commercial exploitation, but is still hunted by some native populations and may be shot by fishermen. This provides the benefit of sites for birthing, rest and thermoregulation, and avoiding predators. A small, overlying white dot indicates the presence of at least one mother‐pup pair within that grid cell. Ice cover is represented by a gradient in cell‐color shading: light gray (scattered), medium gray (intermediate), dark gray (dense). Killer Whales are another predator or seals in some areas. Seals are the favorite food of many predators. Another favorite place for them in the USA is the harbors of New York. When harbor seals haul out hey gather in small groups and usually have their hind flippers raised into the air. The coloring of harbor seal can range from silver to red with dark and light spots. Suggested causes include ducted propellers, fishermen confronted with by-catch, and predators or scavengers [3–5]. Harbor seals frequently congregate in harbors, bays, sandy intertidal zones, and estuaries in pursuit of prey fish such as salmon, menhaden, anchovy, sea bass, herring, mackerel, cod, whiting and flatfish, and occasionally shrimp, crabs, mollusks, and squid. It is also believed it helps them to stay out of the reach of various types of predators. The harbor seal’s diet consists mainly of fish, shellfish, and crustaceans. Mother harbor seals raise their pups in nurseries—groups of mothers and their young—that help protect the seals from predators.
In the water, harbor seal predators include killer whales, great white sharks, polar bears and even other pinnipeds such as Steller sea lions … New threats to harbour seal populations are pollution and the reduction of their food stocks. Killer whales (orcas), white sharks and polar bears prey on harbor seals. The harbor seal is vulnerable to predation both in the water and on land. Coyotes sometimes hunt common seals when they are on land. As suggested by the wide distribution of hydrodynamic receptor systems, water movements generated by prey, predators, or conspecifics, as well as abiotic sources such as tides and currents, provide important sensory information . After hunting was outlawed under the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act, the population of Puget Sound harbor seals grew rapidly until it leveled out around 18,000 animals, according to rough estimates. Harbor Seal Predators The killer whale is one of the harbor seal’s main predators. Harbor Seals in Hood Canal: Predators and Prey Joshua Michael London A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2006 Program Authorized to Offer Degree: School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences . The California coasts seem to be gaining more and more Harbor Seals than in the past. The harbour seal’s main predator is the killer whale, but they must also be on the lookout for some shark species and humans. Predators of the Common Seal include large birds of prey, Killer Whales and Polar Bears. Harbor seals complete both shallow and deep dives while hunting depending on the availability of prey. However, both sharks and killer whales are able to bite of huge chunks to swallow from larger prey. It is easy to point to the increase in regional harbor seal abundance compared to historic lows (Jeffries et al., 2003) as a correlate to declining regional Chinook salmon populations (Pacific Salmon Commission, 2017), but predator-prey dynamics are complex, particularly in cases like these where harbor seals are generalist predators and Chinook salmon are prey to a wide variety of species. Harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardsi) are pinnipeds whose diets are diverse, often reflect regional and seasonal availability of prey, and include many species also eaten by Steller sea lions (SSL).Harbor seal numbers declined more than 80% in western Alaska in the 1970s and 1980s, coinciding with noted declines in SSL numbers.