---
title: "Harbor Seal"
description: "Phoca vitulina — Mammals. The harbor seal, also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/harbor-seal
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Harbor Seal

> Phoca vitulina — Mammals. The harbor seal, also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere.

- Scientific name: *Phoca vitulina*
- Category: `mammals` (Mammals)
- Habitats: `sea` (Sea & coast)
- iNaturalist observations: 73522
- Wikidata: [Q26913](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q26913)
- iNaturalist taxon: [41708](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/41708)

## Names

- en: Harbor Seal
- de: Seehund
- es: Foca común
- fr: Phoque veau-marin
- nl: Gewone zeehond
- pt: Foca-comum
- pl: Foka pospolita

## Countries with the most observations

US (37182), CA (10968), GB (2129), NL (1341), IS (1336), DE (908), DK (838), FR (746), IE (287), SJ (219), MX (215), BE (201)

## Summary

The harbor seal, also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. The most widely distributed species of pinniped, they are found in coastal waters of the northern Atlantic and Pacific oceans, Baltic and North seas.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbor_seal

## Photo

![Harbor Seal](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/harbor-seal/medium.jpg)

Photo: Chris Spain · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/232570682

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/harbor-seal?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).