Lobodon carcinophagus on sea ice (cropped)🦭

Photo: François Guerraz · CC BY-SA 3.0

SpeciesCarnivoraPhocidae
Carnivores

🦭Crabeater seal

Lobodon carcinophaga (Hombron & Jacquinot, 1842)

Krabbätarsälen (Lobodon carcinophagus) tillhör familjen öronlösa sälar och lever på kanten av packisen runt Antarktis. Arten är den enda i släktet Lobodon.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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None yet
Photos
2
Measurements
12
vs you
≈ 3.8× your weight
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2025.

Population trendUnknown
Key measurements
Body mass
238 kg
Body length
2.42 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
39 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Crabeater seal

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
238 kgrecord 300 kg · SeaLifeBase
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Record: largest individual on record

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 250 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: low
Body length
2.42 m
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 2.6 mSeaLifeBasev25.04
Brain mass
607 g
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
39 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Generation length
15 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Age at maturity
4.2 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Gestation
270 days
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 259 daysAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: low
Litter size
1
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 1AnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: low
Trophic level
Carnivore
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Activity cycle
Crepuscular / mixed
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Population density
1.01 per km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
238 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Crabeater seal yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classMammalia
  4. ›orderCarnivora
  5. ›familyPhocidae
  6. ›genusLobodon
  7. ›speciesLobodon carcinophaga
Full lineage
  1. classMammals · Mammalia
  2. orderCarnivorans · Carnivora
  3. familyPhocidae
  4. genusLobodon
All 14 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. classMammals · Mammalia
  9. subclassTheria
  10. superorderLaurasiatheria
  11. orderCarnivorans · Carnivora
  12. suborderCaniformia
  13. familyPhocidae
  14. genusLobodon
More

More about the Crabeater seal

What it eats
insects and other invertebrates100%
In other languages
Крабоед (ru), Krabbenesser (de), Krabojad foczy (pl), 게잡이물범 (ko), Phoque crabier (fr), rákevő fóka (hu) … and 21 more languages
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