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crabeater seal
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A crabeater seal (Lobodon carcinophagus) lies on snow-covered ice with its mouth open, surrounded by broken sea ice in East Antarctica.
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Crabeater seal (Lobodon carcinophagus).
Crabeater seal (Lobodon carcinophagus).

crabeater seal

mammal
Also known as: Lobodon carcinophagus
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History

crabeater seal, (species Lobodon carcinophagus), southern seal of the family Phocidae found among drifting ice packs around the Antarctic continent. A slender animal measuring about 2–2.5 m (6.6–8.2 feet) long and up to about 225 kg (500 pounds) in weight, the crabeater seal feeds on krill (planktonic crustaceans and larvae), rather than on crabs as its name implies. Its teeth are elaborately cusped and fit together to filter its food from the sea. The coat of the seal is blotched gray-brown but fades and becomes whitish by the time the crabeater molts in late summer. Breeding occurs on the pack ice; the pup is pale brown at birth. Adult crabeater seals frequently bear scars from wounds that have been inflicted by killer whales.