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Hooded Seal

Mammals

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The hooded seal, also called the bladdernose seal, is a large phocid seal restricted to the central and western North Atlantic, from Svalbard in the east to the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the west, and the only species in the genus Cystophora. Adults are silver-grey or white with variable black spotting, while pups, known as bluebacks for their blue-grey backs and whitish bellies, shed this natal coat after about 14 months.

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