HARP SEAL

HARP SEAL FACTS

• Harp seals can grow up to be about 300 to 400 pounds and be about 5-6 feet long.
• Male harp seals get the harp marking at age seven but females get it at age 12.
• Pups are born with a fluffy white coat.

HARP SEAL FACTS CONT.

• They live for about 30 years.
• Also known as the saddleback seal.
• They live in the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.

EVOLUTION

• Harp seals have evolved over hundreds of years to be the seal that we see today.
• They have adapted specialized lungs for their semi-aquatic lifestyle. Their airways are supported by smooth muscle, cartilage, and capillaries.

CHORDATA

• Chordates are vertebrates like the harp seal.
• A seal is an example of a chordate but is also in the class mammalia.

REPTILIA

• Reptiles have scales unlike the seal who have skin and layers of blubber.
• Seals are endothermic.
• Reptiles are exothermic.
• They are both oxygen breathing vertebrates and are both tetrapods which means they both have four limbs.

AVES

• Aves have wings and hollow bones used for flying.
• Seals and aves are both endothermic which means they have their own internal body heat.

MAMMALIA

• Seals are mammals that are both placental animals and are endothermic.
• Some mammals lay eggs and seals give live birth.

CHONDRICHTHYES

• Chondrichthyes swim in water like seals.
• Seals unlike Chondrichthyes don't have a swim bladder.

AGNATHA

• The class Agnatha consists of the lampreys and hagfish.
• They are a class of jawless fish.
• Seals are not jawless fish they are mammals.
• They both have a heart and a brain.

ARTHROPODA

• Arthropods are insects that are invertebrates and have an exoskeleton.
• Harp seals and Arthropods both have a heart and a brain.

Echinodermata

• Echinoderms are marine mammals with radial symmetry.
• Harp seals and Echinoderms both live in the ocean.

NEMATODA

• Nematodes are roundworms with bilateral symmetry.
• Both nematodes and harp seals have bilateral symmetry.

ANNELIDA

• Annelids are also called segmented worms or ringed worms.
• They are invertebrates.
• Both a harp seal and an annelid have a heart and brain.

MOLLUSCA

• Mollusks are marine animals that typically live their life in the water and are invertebrates.
• Harp seals and mollusks both typically spend a good portion of their life in the water

PLATYHELMINTHES

• Also known as the flatworm platyhelminthes are bilateral marine animals.
• Like harp seals they live in the water.

CNIDARIA

• Cnidarians live their entire life in the water while seals live on both land and in water.
• Harp seals live parts of their lives in water and reproduce sexually live cnidarians.

PORIFERA

• A Porifera (or sponge) lives their entire life in the water.
• Both the harp seal and the Porifera reproduce sexually.

CITATIONS

• https://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2012/lind_vale/classification.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page