Helicopter pilot Budd Christman assisting with tagging of spotted seal pup.

Image ID: anim0312, NOAA's Ark (Animals) Collection
Photographer: Captain Budd Christman, NOAA Corps

Photo Source:
The NOAA Photo Library http://www.photolib.noaa.gov
The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Adminstration (NOAA) http://www.noaa.gov/

The spotted seal (Phoca largha, Phoca vitulina largha), also known as the larga seal or largha seal, is a member of the family Phocidae, and is considered a "true seal". It inhabits ice floes and waters of the north Pacific Ocean and adjacent seas. It is primarily found along the continental shelf of the Beaufort, Chukchi, Bering and Okhotsk Seas and south to the northern Yellow Sea and it migrates south as far as northern Huanghai and the western East Sea.