Caspian seal
Pusa caspica (Gmelin, 1788)
The caspian seal (Pusa caspica) is a mammal of the family Phocidae in the order Carnivora. It falls in the large size class, with a representative adult body mass of 62.33 kg and up to 86.66 kg reported.
Quick facts about the caspian seal
The caspian seal is a diurnal, marine piscivore at the carnivore trophic level. It is listed as Endangered (EN) on the IUCN Red List, a threatened category, and has one young per litter and one litter per year.
- Weight
- 62.3 kg – 86.7 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 43.5 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Piscivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 50 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- rockysrc for Habitat
- Gestation
- 289 days – 365 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 4 years – 4.18 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- By day (diurnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Marinesrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Endangered (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the caspian seal
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the caspian seal live?
Not recorded
What is the caspian seal?
The Caspian seal (Pusa caspica, syn. Phoca caspica) is one of the smallest members of the earless seal family and unique in that it is found exclusively in the brackish Caspian Sea. It lives along the shorelines, but also on the many rocky islands and floating blocks of ice that dot the Caspian Sea. In winter and cooler parts of the spring and autumn season, it populates the northern Caspian coastline. As the ice melts in the summer and warmer parts of the spring and autumn season, it also occurs in the deltas of the Volga and Ural Rivers, as well as the southern latitudes of the Caspian where the water is cooler due to greater depth.
Evidence suggests that the colonization events of Caspian seals were probably facilitated by river connections from the Arctic that have since disappeared, land-locking the populations sometime before the major Pleistocene glaciations.
Since the beginning of the 1900s, the population has dropped by over 90%. In 2022, a substantial die-off of the endangered species was reported, threatening the isolated population at an estimated number from fewer than 70,000 by the Caspian Seals Research and Rehabilitation Center to 168,000 by the Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force.
From the Wikipedia article “Caspian seal” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Caspian_seal&oldid=1378824831), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the caspian seal endangered?
The caspian seal is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List: it faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Endangered species. What the categories mean.
How is the caspian seal classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderCarnivora
- familyPhocidae
- genusPusa
- SpeciesPusa caspica (Gmelin, 1788)
Synonyms Phoca caspica, Phoca vitulina caspica, Pusa capsica
Other names and names in other languages (32)
- فقمة بحر قزوينArabic
- Xəzər SuitisiAzerbaijani
- Каспийски тюленBulgarian
- Kаspiyski tyulenBulgarian
- tuleň kaspickýCzech
- Kaspische RobbeGerman
- Kaspische RingelrobbeGerman
- Φώκια της ΚασπίαςGreek
- foca del CaspioSpanish
- Kaspia viigerEstonian
- KaspianhyljeFinnish
- Phoque de la CaspienneFrench
- Kaspijski tuljanCroatian
- kaszpi fókaHungarian
- カスピカイアザラシJapanese
- Каспий итбалығыKazakh
- 카스피물범Korean
- 카스피해물범Korean
- Kaspinis ruonisLithuanian
- Kaspijinis ruonisLithuanian
- KaspiselNorwegian Bokmål
- Kaspische ZeehondDutch
- Kaspische RingelrobDutch
- foka KaspijskaPolish
- Nerpa kaspijskaPolish
- Каспийская нерпаRussian
- Каспийский тюленьRussian
- нерпа каспийскаяRussian
- Kaspisk sälSwedish
- hazar fokuTurkish
- Каспійська нерпаUkrainian
- Нерпа каспійськаUkrainian
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the caspian seal
Other species in the same genus Pusa.
Ringed seal
Pusa hispida
Baikal seal
Pusa sibirica
CompareCaspian seal vs Ringed sealCaspian seal vs Baikal seal
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
How heavy is the caspian seal?
The caspian seal has a representative adult body mass of 62.33 kg, with values up to 86.66 kg reported.
What does the caspian seal eat?
The caspian seal is a piscivore, placed at the carnivore trophic level.
Is the caspian seal endangered?
Yes. The caspian seal is listed as Endangered (EN) on the IUCN Red List, which is a threatened category.
How long does the caspian seal live?
The caspian seal has a lifespan of 43.5 years, with values up to 50 years reported.
What kind of animal is the caspian seal?
The caspian seal is a mammal in the family Phocidae, order Carnivora and genus Pusa.
How many young does the caspian seal have?
The caspian seal has 1 young per litter and 1 litter per year, after a gestation period of 288.9 days.
Who named the caspian seal?
The caspian seal, Pusa caspica, was named by Gmelin in 1788, written as (Gmelin, 1788).
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Caspian seal (Pusa caspica). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/caspian-seal
“Caspian seal (Pusa caspica).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/caspian-seal.
@misc{caspian_seal_2026,
title = {Caspian seal (Pusa caspica)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/caspian-seal},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}