Crabeater Seal

Adventure step • Meet the species

Overview

The crabeater seal is a slender, muscular phocid seal with pale brown to grayish fur that bleaches to an almost white or cream color after molting, a narrow pointed snout, and large dark eyes. Despite its common name, it rarely eats crabs, instead feeding almost exclusively on Antarctic krill which it strains from the water using its highly specialized, multi-cusped teeth. It is one of the most abundant large mammals on Earth and plays a pivotal role in the Antarctic food web as a primary krill consumer. Crabeater seals are agile swimmers capable of reaching speeds up to 25 km/h and spend significant time foraging beneath and around pack ice. Leopard seals are their main predator, particularly targeting pups, and most adult crabeater seals bear distinctive parallel scars as evidence of survived attacks.