earless seal

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Related to earless seal: harbor seal, true seal

earless seal

Any of various seals of the family Phocidae, which includes the harbor seal and elephant seals, characterized by short fore flippers, hind flippers specialized for swimming, a coat of short sleek hair, and the absence of external ears. Also called phocid, true seal.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

earless seal

(Animals) any seal of the pinniped family Phocidae, typically having rudimentary hind limbs, no external earflaps, and a body covering of hair with no underfur. Also called: hair seal Compare eared seal

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ear′less seal′

any seal of the family Phocidae, lacking external ears and using the hind flippers only for swimming.

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Noun

earless seal - any of several seals lacking external ear flaps and having a stiff hairlike coat with hind limbs reduced to swimming flippers

hair seal, true seal

seal - any of numerous marine mammals that come on shore to breed; chiefly of cold regions

family Phocidae, Phocidae - earless seals

common seal, harbor seal, Phoca vitulina - small spotted seal of coastal waters of the northern hemisphere

harp seal, Pagophilus groenlandicus - common Arctic seal; the young are all white

elephant seal, sea elephant - either of two large northern Atlantic earless seals having snouts like trunks

bearded seal, Erignathus barbatus, squareflipper square flipper - medium-sized greyish to yellow seal with bristles each side of muzzle; of the Arctic Ocean

bladdernose, Cystophora cristata, hooded seal - medium-sized blackish-grey seal with large inflatable sac on the head; of Arctic and northern Atlantic waters

Translations

tuleň

varsinaiset hylkeet

References in periodicals archive ?

The Caspian seal is one of the smallest members of the earless seal family and unique in that it is found exclusively in the brackish Caspian Sea.

Caspian seal. Will it survive?

The eight "sentinel" species are two flying birds (the snow petrel in Antarctica and the black-legged kittiwakein the Arctic), three diving birds (the Adelie penguin in Antarctica, the thick-billed murre and the black guillemot in the Arctic) and three earless seals (the Weddell seal and elephant seal in Antarctica, and the hooded seal in the Arctic).

BNP Paribas Foundation supporting SENSEI project

Over the past century, human habits and tastes have caused a collapse in the numbers of the world's smallest earless seals.