Grey seal
Halichoerus grypus (Fabricius, 1791)
The grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) is a mammal of the family Phocidae in the order Carnivora. It is a large, marine, diurnal piscivore whose main foods are fish, nephropidae and octopoda; adults have a representative body mass of 157.7 kg, with up to 197.6 kg reported.
Quick facts about the grey seal
Gestation lasts 291.2 days, with up to 350 days reported, and a litter has 1 young; sexual maturity is reached at 4.6 years, with reported values from 4.1 to 5.2 years. The IUCN Red List classifies the grey seal as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.
- Weight
- 157.7 kg – 197.6 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- 1.6 m – 2.7 msrc for Length
- Lifespan
- 44.5 years – 46.7 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Piscivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- fish, nephropidae, octopodasrc for Main food
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Gestation
- 291 days – 350 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 4.1 years – 5.17 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 0.93src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- By day (diurnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Marinesrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the grey seal?
Photos of the grey seal
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the grey seal live?
Not recorded
What is the grey seal?
The grey seal (Halichoerus grypus), or gray seal in the United States, is a large seal of the family Phocidae, which are commonly referred to as "true seals" or "earless seals". The only species classified in the genus Halichoerus, it is found on both shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. The name Halichoerus grypus is taken from Ancient Greek via Latin, and means "hook-nosed sea pig". It is also known as the horsehead seal, owing to its large head.
The grey seal is large and heavy, with individuals from the eastern Atlantic being 1.6–2.3 m (5 ft 3 in – 7 ft 7 in) long and weighing 100–310 kg (220–680 lb), while individuals from the western Atlantic are up to 2.7 m (8 ft 10 in) long, and can reach a weight of as much as 400 kg (880 lb). It is found widely across the northern Atlantic, ranging from the US to Russia, and occasionally as far south as Portugal. It can be divided into two subspecies: the Baltic grey seal (Halichoerus grypus grypus), found in the Baltic Sea, and the Atlantic grey seal (Halichoerus grypus atlantica), found everywhere else. The largest populations are in Canada and the UK.
Grey seals have a varied diet, feeding mostly on fish, and occasionally on invertebrates such as octopuses and lobsters. Their main predators are orcas, and they are also prey to sharks. The pups are preyed upon by eagles and gulls.
From the Wikipedia article “Grey seal” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grey_seal&oldid=1384237188), 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 grey seal endangered?
The grey seal is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- 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 Least Concern species.
How is the grey seal classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderCarnivora
- familyPhocidae
- genusHalichoerus
- SpeciesHalichoerus grypus (Fabricius, 1791)
Synonyms Halichoerus griseus, Halichoerus grypha, Phoca atlantica, Phoca baltica, Phoca griseus, Phoca grypus, Phoca halichoerus, Phoca macrorhynchus, Phoca pachyrhynchus, Phocha halichoreus
Other names and names in other languages (89)
- Atlantic gray sealEnglish
- Atlantic sealEnglish
- Baltic gray sealEnglish
- Gray sealEnglish
- HorseheadEnglish
- Horsehead sealEnglish
- Long-nosed sealEnglish
- فقمة رماديةArabic
- Foca buxaAsturian
- Lhuw marinAsturian
- Boz suitiAzerbaijani
- بوْز سۇ ایتیazb
- Дългомуцунест тюленBulgarian
- Reunig grisBreton
- Foca grisaCatalan
- tuleň kuželozubýCzech
- Szari zelińtKashubian
- morlo llwydWelsh
- Morloi LlwydWelsh
- gråsælDanish
- KegelrobbeGerman
- Γκρίζα φώκιαGreek
- foca grisSpanish
- HallhüljesEstonian
- Itsas txakur grisBasque
- فک خاکستریPersian
- HarmaahyljeFinnish
- halliFinnish
- LáturkópurFaroese
- phoque grisFrench
- Grä selagNorthern Frisian
- Grize seehûnWestern Frisian
- Rón glasIrish
- ròn mòrScottish Gaelic
- ròin ghlasaScottish Gaelic
- ròin liathScottish Gaelic
- ròin mhòraScottish Gaelic
- ròn glasScottish Gaelic
- ròn liathScottish Gaelic
- Foca cincentaGalician
- Lobo mariño cincentoGalician
- יפעתןHebrew
- כלב ים אפורHebrew
- Sivi tuljanCroatian
- Kúpos fókaHungarian
- ÚtselurIcelandic
- HaustselurIcelandic
- alicheroItalian
- foca grigiaItalian
- ハイイロアザラシJapanese
- გრძელდინგა სელაპიGeorgian
- SiggutooqKalaallisut
- sigguttooqKalaallisut
- 회색물범Korean
- ilgasnukis ruonisLithuanian
- Pilkasis ruonisLithuanian
- Pelēkais ronisLatvian
- Сива фокаMacedonian
- Саарал далайн хавMongolian
- HavkobbeNorwegian Bokmål
- kegelrobDutch
- Atlantische grijze zeehondDutch
- grijze zeehondDutch
- gråselNorwegian Nynorsk
- havertNorwegian Nynorsk
- Harmaihyleholo
- foka szaraPolish
- Szarytka morskaPolish
- Foca-cinzentaPortuguese
- ТевякRussian
- длинномордыйRussian
- Длинномордый тюленьRussian
- Серый тюленьRussian
- или серый тюленьRussian
- ákcuNorthern Sami
- deavutNorthern Sami
- ránesnjuorjuNorthern Sami
- riehkkuNorthern Sami
- sivi tjulenjSlovenian
- stožčastoglavi tjulenjSlovenian
- gråsälSwedish
- แมวน้ำสีเทาThai
- boz fokTurkish
- gri fokTurkish
- Тюлень сірийUkrainian
- довгомордий тюленьUkrainian
- Тев'як довгомордийUkrainian
- Hải cẩu xámVietnamese
- 灰海豹Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the grey seal
Other species in the same family Phocidae.
Harbor seal
Phoca vitulina
Leopard seal
Hydrurga leptonyx
Mediterranean monk seal
Monachus monachus
Bearded seal
Erignathus barbatus
Ringed seal
Pusa hispida
Baikal seal
Pusa sibirica
CompareGrey seal vs Harbor sealGrey seal vs Leopard sealGrey seal vs Mediterranean monk sealGrey seal vs Bearded seal
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is a grey seal?
The grey seal is a marine mammal of the family Phocidae, in the order Carnivora.
How heavy is a grey seal?
An adult grey seal has a representative body mass of 157.7 kg, with up to 197.6 kg reported. It falls in the large size class (25 to 250 kg).
What does a grey seal eat?
The grey seal is a piscivore whose main foods are fish, nephropidae and octopoda.
Is the grey seal endangered?
No. The grey seal is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
How long does a grey seal live?
The grey seal has a lifespan of 44.5 years, with up to 46.67 years reported.
How many young does a grey seal have?
A grey seal has 1 young per litter, after a gestation of 291.2 days.
When does a grey seal reach sexual maturity?
A grey seal reaches sexual maturity at 4.6 years, with reported values from 4.1 to 5.2 years.
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). Grey seal (Halichoerus grypus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/grey-seal
“Grey seal (Halichoerus grypus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/grey-seal.
@misc{grey_seal_2026,
title = {Grey seal (Halichoerus grypus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/grey-seal},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}