Phocidae

The earless seals, also known as phocids or true seals, are one of the three main groups of mammals within the seal lineage, Pinnipedia. All true seals are members of the family Phocidae. They are sometimes called crawling seals to distinguish them from the fur seals and sea lions of the family Otariidae. Seals live in the oceans of both hemispheres and, with the exception of the more tropical monk seals, are mostly confined to polar, subpolar, and temperate climates. The Baikal seal is the only species of exclusively freshwater seal.

Phocidae

Marcel Burkhard · CC BY-SA 2.0 de · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
sealPBDB
Sits inside
PinnipediaPBDB
Diet
piscivore, carnivorePBDB
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB, for Pinnipedia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Pinnipedia

Time the record covers

At least 37 million years on record.

The record covers at least 37.71 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 41.03 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 1 of 982 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 3 of 982 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 303 of 982 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 92 of 982 occurrencesPleistocene — about 171 of 982 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 1 occurrence22–21 Mya — about 2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 3 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 4 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 4 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 10 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 16 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 65 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 81 occurrences11–9.8 Mya — about 25 occurrences9.8–8.4 Mya — about 28 occurrences8.4–7.0 Mya — about 28 occurrences7.0–5.6 Mya — about 30 occurrences5.6–4.2 Mya — about 49 occurrences4.2–2.8 Mya — about 44 occurrences2.8–1.4 Mya — about 30 occurrences1.4–0 Mya — about 558 occurrences37.71 Mya11.7 ka41.9 Mya0 Mya

982 occurrences of Phocidae on record. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

982 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

83 formations

Calvert — 39.20°N, 75.60°WCalvert — 37.53°N, 77.42°WCalvert — 37.93°N, 77.51°WCalvert — 38.40°N, 76.50°WCalvert — 37.67°N, 77.16°WCalvert — 38.53°N, 76.52°WCalvert — 38.17°N, 76.87°WCalvert — 38.61°N, 76.52°WCalvert — 38.67°N, 76.53°WCalvert — 38.17°N, 76.85°WCalvert — 38.38°N, 76.99°WCalvert — 37.77°N, 77.28°WPisco — 15.58°S, 74.72°WPisco — 15.44°S, 74.87°WPisco — 15.55°S, 74.80°WPisco — 14.56°S, 75.67°WPisco — 15.50°S, 74.80°WPisco — 14.34°S, 75.91°WPisco — 14.45°S, 75.75°WPisco — 15.06°S, 74.08°WBahía Inglesa — 27.14°S, 70.88°WBahía Inglesa — 27.13°S, 70.83°WBahía Inglesa — 27.04°S, 70.79°WBahía Inglesa — 27.16°S, 70.89°WBahía Inglesa — 27.72°S, 70.99°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WYorktown — 34.36°N, 77.87°WYorktown — 37.04°N, 76.36°WYorktown — 36.45°N, 77.08°WVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°EVarswater — 33.00°S, 18.00°EVarswater — 33.67°S, 18.43°EDiest — 51.21°N, 4.43°EDiest — 51.22°N, 4.46°EKattendijk — 51.21°N, 4.43°EPalos Verdes Sand — 34.00°N, 118.20°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.80°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.83°N, 118.31°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.75°N, 118.28°WPeace River — 27.90°N, 81.80°WPeace River — 27.76°N, 81.83°WBerchem — 51.21°N, 4.43°EBerchem — 51.17°N, 4.46°EStudienka — 48.20°N, 17.98°EStudienka — 48.20°N, 17.00°EBlack Rock Sandstone — 37.99°S, 145.04°EChoptank — 38.38°N, 76.50°WChoptank — 38.47°N, 76.48°WChoptank — 38.16°N, 76.83°WGram — 55.31°N, 9.06°EGram — 56.66°N, 8.94°ERed Crag — 51.96°N, 1.35°ERed Crag — 52.05°N, 1.25°ERed Crag — 52.09°N, 1.31°EEastover — 37.69°N, 76.97°WEastover — 38.16°N, 76.83°WEastover — 36.67°N, 77.02°WSt Marys — 38.16°N, 76.44°WSt Marys — 38.13°N, 76.29°WSt Marys — 38.16°N, 76.45°WGubik — 55.30°N, 131.54°WGubik — 70.50°N, 153.50°WGroote Heide — 52.04°N, 6.67°ESahabi — 30.14°N, 20.75°ESahabi — 30.00°N, 20.00°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.25°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.92°N, 1.34°EPuerto Madryn — 42.24°S, 64.19°WPuerto Madryn — 42.50°S, 64.00°WPuerto Madryn — 42.57°S, 64.28°WBreda — 51.97°N, 6.73°EBreda — 51.41°N, 5.82°EBreda — 51.70°N, 5.73°EDeist — 51.19°N, 4.46°E

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The named rock units Phocidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 59 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 702 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

2,521 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 678 sites for Phocidae, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

312 references

Each of the 982 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 300 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Phocidae

Credit
Marcel Burkhard
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0 de
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPinnipedia through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1821