The Differences Between Seals and Sea Lions

My previous post on seals brought us a question by email about the difference between seals and sea lions. We often see both in zoos and aquariums and you might see seals on our beaches in winter, but no sea lions in NJ.

So, what's the difference between seals and sea lions?

Seals and sea lions belong to a group of marine mammals called pinnipeds, which means fin or flipper-footed. These animals live in the ocean but can come on land for long periods. Some species have evolved the ability to hold their breath for up to two hours and dive to depths of more than 6,500 feet when looking for food.

Sea Lion            and     Seal  (NOAA)

Sea lions are brown, bark loudly, "walk" on land using their large flippers, and have visible ear flaps. Seals have small flippers, wriggle on their bellies on land, and lack visible ear flaps. Their colors vary but are often in shades or gray or even white.

Sea lions are also quite noisy with barking sounds. Seals are quieter, vocalizing via soft grunts.

There are two families of pinnipeds: Phocids and Otariids. Phocids are also known as earless seals or “true” seals. They have ear holes, but no external ear flaps and move on land by flopping along on their bellies. Phocids include the harbor seal.

Otariids, also known as eared seals, include sea lions and fur seals such as the Steller sea lion and the northern fur seal. Unlike true seals, they have external ear flaps. Their front flippers are large, and on land, they can bring all four flippers underneath their bodies and walk on them. Otariids propel themselves in the water by paddling their front flippers and using their rear flippers to steer. 

Though seals are not endangered or threatened in New Jersey, when they do visit us they are protected under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Seals on NJ Winter Beaches

Harbor Seal 

You probably don't associate New Jersey with seals, but they are seasonal visitors from New England and Canada who swim south each winter following their food sources. 

If you encounter seals on a winter beach walk, you are advised to keep your distance for the safety of the seals but also yourself and maybe your beach-walking dog. It's tempting to get close for a photo of these big-eyed, whiskered, and sometimes funny swimmers and relaxed beachgoers soaking up the winter rays. Seals are wild animals and can attack with sharp teeth and claws if they feel threatened.

They are federally protected by the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act. Keep a distance of at least 150 feet away –farther if the seal notices you,

In fact, it would be advisable to contact Marine Mammal Stranding Center (MMSC) which will send volunteers to evaluate the animals and protect them from encroachment. They also offer coastal communities free “Give Seals Space” signs to put up near beaches. MMSC treats and releases seals and other animals. See https://mmsc.org/ or their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/njmarinemammal. 

If you see a seal on the beach, whether it seems in distress or healthy, it would be appreciated if you call MMSC’s 24-hour hotline at 609-266-0538.

You are most likely to see harbor seals which are the most common in our waters. Some have already arrived at the year's end to their winter colony in Sandy Hook. You are likely to see some - at a distance - at Skeleton Island in Sandy Hook Bay, or on the rocks near Officers’ Row. Bring binoculars or a camera with a telephoto lens. Your phone will only get you a distant photo. The seals will fan out to beaches and waterways up and down New Jersey’s coast. Most stranded harbor seals in our area are yearlings or second-year animals. Adult harbor seals can grow up to 5 feet long and weigh 200 lbs.

In January and February, gray seals begin to appear. On rare occasions, harp, ringed and hooded seals from the Arctic visit us. 

Gray Seal

They are following their favorite fish and crustaceans and seeking favorable water temperatures. Though seals have waterproof fur and insulating blubber, they do have to “haul out” of the water regularly to rest and warm up in the sun. Another reason not to approach them is because you can scare them into going back in the water prematurely, causing them to deplete precious energy reserves. Even being in a state of increased vigilance can prevent them from getting the rest they need.

Young seals at the MMSC hospital are often underweight or exhausted. Gray seal pups are born in January and February in coastal New England and Nova Scotia and are fed and cared for by their mothers for only about two weeks before being left to fend for themselves. That means these little ones will swim from 400 to 900 miles to get to New Jersey.

Sources for this post include:
New Jersey Conservation Foundation
www.njconservation.org 

Save Coastal Wildlife - Seals of New Jersey
www.savecoastalwildlife.org/seals-of-the-jersey-shore

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/seals-sea-lions.

juvenile Harp Seal

Sandy Hook This Month

You might not be thinking Jersey shore, beaches, and Sandy Hook with a winter storm hitting NJ this weekend, but there are shore activities all year round.

Here are a few possibilities, including one that you can do from home.

Searching for Seals in the Surf, Sandy Hook Lighthouse, Sunday, March 13, 11 am - 1 pm

Hike to the Sandy Hook bayside with a park ranger to search for seal activity during their annual migration, and learn about marine mammals that dwell in the waters of Sandy Hook at different times of the year. Space is limited, please call (732) 872-5970 to make a reservation.  

Seal pup  ||     Image Credit: Andreas Trepte via Wikimedia

Worm Moon – Full Moon Walk, Beach Plaza C, Friday, March 18, 7 pm - 9 pm

The Worm Moon is the last full moon of winter. It is often named the worm moon because of the abundance of earthworms emerging from the ground, leaving trails in the thawed frost. Join a park ranger on this trek along the bay and enjoy the opportunity to view the beautiful landscape by the light of the moon. Space is limited, please call (732) 872-5970 to make a reservation. 

Coffee with a Ranger on Facebook Live, Monday, March 28, 10 am - 11 am

Meet the park’s Community Volunteer Ambassador (CVA) and learn about the Piping Plover and Nesting Shorebird Stewardship Volunteer Program at Sandy Hook. The CVA program is a 50-week internship experience managed in partnership with the National Park Service and Conservation Legacy. The intern will focus their efforts on building community involvement, engaging new and diverse audiences, and recruiting volunteers. Please join as the live video starts or pre-register in the events tab on the park’s Facebook page - @GatewayNPS

ALSO

savecoastalwildlife.org/save-the-seals-of-sandy-hook-bay

Seals Wintering in New Jersey

Seals are commonly seen on Sandy Hook’s Skeleton Hill Island in winter  - NPS photo

Many New Jersey residents probably would not say that seals live on the shores of our state. they are not usually obvious, but they do visit us regularly. Unlike humans, seals occur along the New Jersey coastline primarily between the months of November through April. 

The harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) is the most common seal found in New Jersey. Other species of seals found in the state include the larger gray seal (Halichoerus grypus), the harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandica), and the least common, the hooded seal (Cystophora cristata).

None of these seal species are classified as endangered or threatened, but they are all protected under the Federal Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and you should avoid contact with them.

Harbor seals can be found across the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans. In Europe, they occur within the Baltic, Barents, and North Seas. On our side of the Atlantic, they can be found in Canada and along the northeastern U.S. New Jersey is typically as far south as they travel in large numbers during the winter, though there have been occasional sightings as far south as Florida.

Sandy Hook is one of the most likely places to see seals in the state. Seals can most often be observed on the bayside beaches but may also be occasionally observed on the ocean beaches, the rocky shoreline near Officer’s Row, or on floating patches of ice in Sandy Hook Bay. There is a boardwalk with a viewing platform that leads out to the best viewing spot on the bay side of the main road.

Seals, along with sea lions and walruses, are classified in a warm blooded group called
“pinnipeds.” Sandy Hook’s seal visitors are “true seals” lacking external ear flaps, unlike
its relative the sea lion. They are also smaller and more skittish. Their long, hairless, front
flippers are used for propulsion in water while the hind flippers are used for steering.
The hind flippers can also be brought forward and under the body, allowing them to flop along on their bellies.

Seals have a thick blubber layer which, combined with a fur coat, protects them in frigid climates. Pinnipeds spend most of their lives in the water but come on land to give birth, raise their young and to molt. They can sleep in water but must wake up frequently to surface and breathe.

They are gifted swimmers, able to dive up to 1,500 feet for as long as 40 minutes.

There are two events at Sandy Hook in March that should give you an opportunity to see them and learn more about them.

Seal and Waterfowl Walk
Building #18, Littoral Society Headquarters
Saturday, March 2, 12 PM - 2 PM
Bring your binoculars and take a trek throughout Sandy Hook to observe the seals and waterfowl that overwinter in New Jersey. The program will include car caravanning to multiple locations on Sandy Hook. Afterwards, warm up at Littoral Society Headquarters with snacks and toasty beverages. Cost: $10 member/ $20 non-member. Registration and payment is required ahead of time, please call (732) 291-0055.  1 mile.

Searching for Seals in the Surf
U.S. Life-Saving Station at Spermaceti Cove (between Lot D and Lot E)
Sunday, March 3, 10 AM - 12 PM
Hike to the Sandy Hook bayside with a park ranger to search for seal activity during their annual migration; and learn about marine mammals that dwell in the waters of Sandy Hook at different times of the year. Reservations required, please call (732) 872-5970.  1 mile.

INFORMATION
Seals in NJ  nps.gov/gate/learn/nature/upload/Seals-in-Sandy-Hook-Waters.pdf
Visiting Sandy Hook nps.gov/gate/planyourvisit/

Harbor seal - via Wikimedia

Seals on the Beach

Young harbor seal seen in Long Branch, NJ  via shore11.org

Despite a warmer than usual winter, not many humans are on New Jersey’s beaches yet. But the colder weather is when some other species have a "beach day."

There are beach-lounging mammals called pinnipeds that like the colder days on the sand. Pinniped literally means “fin-footed” and classifies amphibious marine mammals including seals, sea lions, fur seals, and walrus.

We do get true seals (not sea lions) on our coast mostly from November through April. The most likely one for you to see is a harbor seal, followed by the larger gray seal, the harp seal, and the rarest in our area would be the hooded seal.

I'm sure most beach wanderers would be excited to see a seal on the beach these days. But seals are very sensitive to disturbances while they are "hauled-out" (on land) because they have pretty limited mobility on land and feel much more threatened.

Boaters, beachcombers and even aircraft flying over can send a whole colony back to the ocean, which expends their energy and might even cause a colony to abandon a location.

There are a few more reasons to give seals a wide berth (stay at least 50 yards  away). First, it is against the law to approach a wild seal, touch, feed or harass it. Second, though they may look like a Disney character, seals have a powerful bite and mouths that contain enough bacteria to guarantee a nasty infection.


None of the seal species found in our waters or on our beaches are classified as endangered or threatened, but they are all protected under the Federal Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972.

Their "predators" on land in NJ are harassing humans (intentional or not). In the ocean, sharks are their greatest threat.

The number of seals appearing on our coast each winter has been increasing and New Jersey has the largest seal haul-out location along the US Atlantic coastline south of Long Island, NY.

The Conserve Wildlife Foundation and the NJ Endangered and Nongame Species Program (ENSP) work to identify and protect wintering colonies and haul-out areas used by seals along our coastline.

Not all seal visits are to the beach. This harp seal was found
visiting Woodbridge, NJ in 2010

Harp Seal in Woodbridge, NJ

You don't really expect to find a seal wandering along an avenue in New Jersey.

But, a Woodbridge township snow plow driver came across one this month on Sixth Avenue in the Port Reading section of the township early one snowy morning.

It tuned out to be an adult harp seal. The police and a township control officer were notified and, according to reports, they dragged the seal to the Woodbridge River.

Seals are Arctic mammals that live on ice flows, but in cold weather, many are carried by currents and swim south looking for food. It's not that rare that seals will make the 1,500 mile journey to the New Jersey coast. Seals often come onto beaches to escape the cold water where they will lay in the sun and build up their oxygen levels.

New Jersey sees more seals in the winter now than in earlier decades. Two colonies live off the Jersey shore in the winter, with one visible from Sandy Hook.

Beach visitors of the human variety should avoid going near the seals and not try to feed them.

Harp seals are part of the family Phocidae, known as the "true" or "earless" seals because they lack external ear flaps. They have a robust body, a relatively small, broad, flat head, and a narrow snout that contains eight pairs of teeth in both the upper and lower jaws.

During breeding in February and March, and when molting in late spring, harp seals aggregate in large numbers of up to several thousand seals on the pack ice. During extensive seasonal migrations, large groups may feed and travel together.

Harp seals are highly migratory. Following the breeding season, adults assemble north of their "whelping" sites to undergo an annual molt before continuing to migrate north to Arctic summer feeding grounds. In late September, after feeding all summer, most adults and some immature seals of the Western North Atlantic stock migrate south along the Labrador coast to the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, generally arriving by early winter. There they split into two groups, one moving into the Gulf and the other remaining off the coast of Newfoundland.

In recent years, the number of sightings and strandings from January to May have increased off the east coast of the United States from Maine to New Jersey. During this time, the Western North Atlantic stock of harp seals is at the most southern point of their migration.

Robert Schoelkopf, founding director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine, says that the Center has been called this season to rescue seals already. He said that the township officials had tried to put a net around the seal but failed and were finally able to grab the seal with a mouthpiece normally used to capture dogs.

Probably, dragging the seal into the Woodbridge River was not the best course of action. Acting more out of fear for the animal's safety, the treatment might have caused injuries, and also may have put it in an unfamiliar waterway where it would not know how to navigate to open water.

The best sceanrio would be that the seal would swim out to Arthur Kill. If the seal went upstream, it would be in less water, probably without food, and would be more likely to wander on land again.

The Marine Mammal Protection Act bans anybody without proper training from handling seals. The proper course of action would be to to call the Marine Mammal Stranding Center (609) 266-0538.

Adopt A Seal through the  MarineMammalStrandingCenter.org

The Marine Mammal Stranding Center is a private, non-profit organization, started in 1978 with a handful of volunteers and a C.E.T.A. grant. It was founded and is still directed by Robert Schoelkopf. He and his wife, Sheila Dean, along with a small paid staff and volunteers with a wide variety of talents and professional backgrounds, continue to work with the animals. The Center is now located on the barrier island of Brigantine, which borders coastal New Jersey’s largest wildlife refuge.

With a permit and authorization from the state and federal governments, the Center has responded to over 3450 strandings of whales, dolphins, seals and sea turtles that have washed ashore over the years. Even though these governments sanction the handling of strandings in New Jersey only, the Center is occasionally called upon to assist with animals in other states. All funding comes through donations, grants, memberships, and fund-raising efforts. Since there is no permanent funding at this time, your donations and membership dollars are vital.

 

Harp Seals (Early Bird Nature Books)