Hooded seal

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Cystophora cristata 

     The hooded seal is so named because of a large elastic nasal cavity, or “hood”, extending from the nostrils to the forehead which, when fully inflated, resembles a large black rubber ball. The “hood” is absent in females and immature males. 
     These large mammals are uncommonly aggressive for a seals. Males occasionally exceed 3 m in length and 400 kg in weight. They have been reported to live for as long as 32 years. 
     Most of the hooded seal population is distributed in the North Atlantic including the waters around the Maritime provinces, Newfoundland, and into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Their diet consists of mussels, starfish, squid, shrimp, herring, and cod. Aside from humans, who hunt them for their skin, their chief predator appears to be the killer whale. 
 

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