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The Spotted Seal (Phoca largha) is a species of seal found in both Endless Ocean and Endless Ocean 2.
It gets its common name from its speckled pattern. Reportedly, this makes it easy to confuse with one of its relatives, the harbor seal.
In-Game[]
Marine Encyclopedia[]
Endless Ocean[]
Description[]
"These creatures have wide bodies with short, stubby necks and round heads. They are brown or gray with white and black spots and will appear on your boat from time to time.
Each of their legs has five digits with webbing between them. They also have large, bright eyes that provide them with excellent underwater vision, although it is thought that they are color blind.
Spotted seals have a number of fascinating characteristics. As they are usually born directly on the ice, seal pups have protective coloration on their fur. This fur is shed after two or three weeks and replaced with adult-colored fur. Also, because of their large blood volumes and vast oxygen reserves, they can actually sleep underwater."
Endless Ocean 2[]
Description[]
"This seal has brown or grey fur covered in white or black spots. It has large eyes that give it excellent underwater vision, but it is color blind. Cubs are born with downy white fur to let them blend in with the ice floes, but they shed this fur after two to three weeks, and their new fur becomes like their parents’. The seals’ milk they’re raised on is thicker and contains more fat and nutrients than cow’s milk."
[Sleeping with the Fishes][]
"Seals can sleep underwater for a short time because they have a lot of blood which lets them store large quantities of oxygen."
Location[]
Endless Ocean[]
These seals will sometimes appear on the Gabbiano, more frequently when it is parked in the northwestern portion of the map. They can also be seen in the Green Garden area during the autumn season, which starts on September 1st and ends on December 1st.
Endless Ocean 2[]
These can be found around the ice holes at coordinates A-4 and C-4 in the North Coast of Canada region. However, they can only be found on-shore during the daytime; at night, they can be found swimming in a small group beneath the ice at coordinates C-4.
Behavior[]
These seals will laze around and occasionally move, spending time with their young. They respond well to being petted and fed.
Gallery[]
.png "Spotted Seal (EO1 1).png (469 KB)")
.png "Spotted Seal (EO1 2).png (258 KB)")
_1.png "Spotted Seal (EO1, Gabbiano) 1.png (466 KB)")
_2.png "Spotted Seal (EO1, Gabbiano) 2.png (458 KB)")
.png "Spotted Seal (Adult and Pup 1, Night, EO1).png (626 KB)")
_(EO1).png "Spotted Seal (Pup, Night 1) (EO1).png (357 KB)")
Notes[]
Real-Life Information[]
- True to both in-game descriptions, spotted seals are colorblind. This is a trait they share with all marine mammals due to lacking one type of cone cell, the cell in the eye responsible for detecting color[1]. Behavioral tests with the harbor seal (Phoca vitulina), a close relative of the spotted seal, have demonstrated that they can still differentiate between a multitude of shades using the brightness of the colors alone[2]. This means that both games are correct in remarking on the excellent vision of the seal.
- Spotted seals are born with a coat of thick, pure-white fur scientifically known as a "lanugo", something spoken of but not named in both in-game descriptions[3][4]. At about 3 to 4 weeks of age, they shed the lanugo, and it gives way to the characteristic spotted pattern[5][6].
- Seals in general, not just the spotted seal, have a large volume of blood in the body, which allows them to store enough oxygen to nap underwater like both games report[7]. This is a trait they share with other pinnipeds (sea lions and walruses), as well as with cetaceans[8].
- There is also a specific protein in seal muscle that allows it to store much more oxygen than other animals, like humans, can[9].
- Another thing that helps is that they don't need to catch their breath while sleeping as often as they do while actively swimming, because sleeping uses less oxygen[10].
- Seals are also capable of sleeping with only half of their brain active at a time, something that dolphins are also known for doing[11][12].
- Other common names for the spotted seal are the largha seal or larga seal, from its specific epithet[13][14]. It also has various names in different Alaskan Eskimo languages; these include gazigyaq (in St. Lawrence Island Yupik), qasigiaq (in Inupiaq), and issuriq (in the Central Alaskan Yup'ik language)[15].
- The spotted seal is frequently confused with the harbor seal, to which it is closely related; their territories overlap in several places, and they often mingle with each other[16][17]. There is also evidence of interbreeding between the species[13].
- The harbor seal does not appear in either of the Endless Ocean games.
- Spotted seals are one of four seals that live in the Northern hemisphere and lean very heavily on temporary sea ice for breeding, feeding, and resting. These seals are all called "ice seals", and consist of the spotted seal, the ribbon seal, the bearded seal, and the ringed seal[18].
- The ringed seal is the only one of these four that does not appear in either Endless Ocean game.
- During breeding season, spotted seals only take one mate, which is unusual amongst seals similar to them[19][20]. These mates change from year to year, forming a different family unit of mother, father, and pup each season[21].
[]
Emperor Penguin
• Gentoo Penguin
• Adélie Penguin
• Rockhopper Penguin
• African Penguin
Chinstrap Penguin
• Little Penguin
• Cape Fur Seal
• Antarctic Fur Seal
• California Sea Lion
South American Sea Lion
• Steller Sea Lion
• Walrus
• Southern Elephant Seal
• Weddell Seal
Leopard Seal
• Bearded Seal
• Spotted Seal
• Ribbon Seal
• Harp Seal
• Mediterranean Monk Seal
West Indian Manatee
• Razorbill
• Short-Tailed Albatross
• Brown Booby
• Japanese Cormorant
White Pelican
• Australian Pelican
• South Polar Skua
• White-Bellied Parrot
• Polar Bear
• Sea Otter
Galapagos Marine Iguana
References[]
- ↑ "Rod-cone based color vision in seals under photopic conditions"; Daniela Oppermann, Jürgen Schramme, and Christa Neumeyer
- ↑ "Why do seals have cones? Behavioural evidence for colour-blindness in harbour seals"; Christine Scholtyssek, Almut Kelber, and Guido Dehnhardt
- ↑ Marine Species Identification Portal
- ↑ IUCN Red List
- ↑ Animal Diversity Web
- ↑ Sea Grant Alaska Marine Education
- ↑ NOAA Ocean Today
- ↑ Sea Grant Alaska Marine Education (Seals and Sea Lions)
- ↑ BBC
- ↑ Ecomare Nature Museum
- ↑ New Scientist
- ↑ LiveScience
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Seal Conservation Society
- ↑ Wildlife North America
- ↑ Alaska Department of Fish & Game
- ↑ MarineBio
- ↑ "Spotted Seal: Phoca largha"; Kathryn J.Frost and John J.Burns
- ↑ NOAA Fisheries Ice Seal Conservation Research
- ↑ NOAA
- ↑ Center for Biological Diversity
- ↑ U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service