Characteristic for Pinnipeds (fin-feet), a suborder of marine mammals, is that they have their young on land or ice. In this respect they are different to the Cetacea (whales etc) that give birth in the water. Just as the common seal makes use of sandbanks in the Wadden Sea, other species use rocks, sandy beaches or ice shelves.
True seals exist in different places throughout the world. The Largha seal, grey seal, common seal,harp seal, ringed seal, ribbon seal, bearded seal and hooded seal are found in the Northern hemisphere, the Arctic circle and on moderate latitudes (the common seal mostly on the moderate latitude and the Hooded seal mostly in the Arctic circle). The monk seal is found in the sub tropic waters and the northern sea elephant is found in moderate and subtropical waters of the Pacific Ocean.
The Ross seal, leopard seal, Weddell seal, crabeater seal and southern elephant seal live in the Southern hemisphere in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic waters. Some species even exist in fresh water, such as the Saimaa ringed seal (a subspecies of the ringed seal), which lives in the Saimaa Lake in Finland and the Lagoda seal (also a subspecies of the ringed seal), which lives in the Lagoda Lake in Russia. Common seals inhabit several lakes in Canada and the Baikal seal is found in the Baikal Lake in Siberia. Seals even live in the brackish water of the Caspian Sea (the Caspian seal). Information about all the different species can be found in the summary of each species.
