---
title: "What the sources say about the Crabeater Seal | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "37 claims from the Crabeater Seal profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
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# What the sources say about the Crabeater Seal (*Lobodon carcinophaga*)

> 37 claims from the Crabeater Seal profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Crabeater Seal](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/crabeater-seal/)

## Crabeater seal. Australian Antarctic Division.

https://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/animals/seals/crabeater-seal/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| The Southern Ocean's most abundant seal | They are the most abundant seal species in the Southern Ocean |
| the seal uses this dentition to gulp in a mouthful of seawater and strain out the krill | Crabeater seals have specially adapted teeth with extra projections to gulp in seawater and strain out the krill. |
| Circumpolar pack ice of the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica | Crabeater seals have a circumpolar distribution |
| Circumpolar pack ice of the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica | the pack-ice zone surrounding Antarctica |
| Despite the name, this seal doesn't eat crabs. It eats krill. | Despite their name, these seals don't eat crabs, they eat krill ( Euphausia superba ). |
| reaching lengths of 2.5 meters and weights of 400 kilograms | Males and females are similar in size, reaching lengths of 2.5 m and weights of 400 kg. |
| Newborn pups are about 1.2 meters long and weigh 20 to 30 kilograms. | New-born pups are about 1.2 m and weigh from 20 to 30 kg. |
| The name comes from the German word Krebs, which covers crustaceans in general, not crabs alone | Their name originates from the German word, 'Krebs', which covers other crustacea as well as crabs. |
| crabeater seals can dive to 250 meters but usually feed in the top 20 meters of water | They are capable of diving to depths of up to 250 m, but usually feed within the upper 20 m of the water column. |
| crabeater seals spend their entire lives in the pack ice ringing Antarctica: resting, breeding and moulting on the ice, and feeding in the surrounding water. | Crabeater seals spend their entire lives in the pack-ice zone surrounding Antarctica, resting, breeding and moulting on the pack-ice, and feeding in the surrounding water. |
| an estimated population of about 15 million | Crabeater seals have a circumpolar distribution with an estimated population of about 15 million. |
| Circumpolar and an Estimated 15 Million Strong | Crabeater seals have a circumpolar distribution with an estimated population of about 15 million. |
| calling them the most abundant seal in the Southern Ocean and the most numerous of the world's larger animals besides humans | They are the most abundant seal species in the Southern Ocean, and the most numerous of all the world's larger animals apart from humans. |
| Most adult crabeater seals carry large scars from unsuccessful leopard seal attacks made when they were younger. | Leopard seals are a major predator of crabeater seals, particularly of young pups. Most adult crabeater seals have large scars as a result of unsuccessful attacks from leopard seals when they were younger. |
| Crabeater seals are named for the German word Krebs, which the Australian Antarctic Division notes covers crustaceans in general, not crabs alone. | Their name originates from the German word, 'Krebs', which covers other crustacea as well as crabs. |
| What the seal actually eats is Antarctic krill. | Despite their name, these seals don't eat crabs, they eat krill ( Euphausia superba ). |
| tags: pack-ice | Crabeater seals spend their entire lives in the pack-ice zone surrounding Antarctica, resting, breeding and moulting on the pack-ice, and feeding in the surrounding water. |

## Lobodon carcinophaga (crabeater seal). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Lobodon_carcinophaga/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| teeth called the most complex of any carnivore | Its teeth are very distinct and have been called "the most complex of any carnivore" |
| Teeth with interlocking, multi-cusped crowns that seal shut like a sieve, straining krill from a mouthful of seawater | There are several tubercles on each tooth with spaces between them that cut deeply into the tooth. The main cusps of upper and lower teeth fit perfectly together. When the crabeater seal closes its mouth, the only spaces are those between the tubercles. (note: combined with the AAD claim on the sieving mechanism below; AAD states the mechanism without ADW's hedge ('probably serves as')) |
| The crabeater seal (Lobodon carcinophaga) is a slender, long-snouted seal of the Antarctic pack ice. | It has a long snout and a fairly slim body compared to other seals. |
| The crabeater seal's teeth have been called "the most complex of any carnivore," Animal Diversity Web notes: each carries several tubercles, and when the jaws close the only spaces left are the gaps between them. | Its teeth are very distinct and have been called "the most complex of any carnivore" ... There are several tubercles on each tooth with spaces between them that cut deeply into the tooth ... When the crabeater seal closes its mouth, the only spaces are those between the tubercles. |
| Animal Diversity Web calls the crabeater probably the fastest pinniped on land, reaching speeds of up to 25 kilometers an hour; when sprinting it swings its head from side to side in time with its pelvis. | The crabeater seal is probably the fastest pinniped on land, reaching speeds of up to 25 km/hour. When sprinting, it lifts its head high and swings its head from side to side in synchrony with its pelvis. |
| Animal Diversity Web notes that while the species lives mainly on Antarctica's coast and pack ice, in the winter months it may be found on the shores of South America, Australia, South Africa, Tasmania and New Zealand. | The crabeater seal, Lobodon carcinophagus, is primarily found on the coast and pack ice of Antarctica. In the winter months, it may be found on the shores of South America, Australia, South Africa, Tasmania, New Zealand, and various islands surrounding Antarctica. |
| Once in the water, a crabeater seal dives nearly continually for about 16 hours, averaging 143 dives a day in one late-summer count. | They dive primarily at night and are reported to average 143 daily dives in late February (Nordoy et al. 1995). Once in the water, diving occurs nearly continually for approximately 16 hours. |

## Guerrero et al. (2021). Complementary use of stable isotopes and fatty acids for quantitative diet estimation of sympatric predators, the Antarctic pack-ice seals. Oecologia.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-05045-z

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Antarctic krill, estimated at 84 to 91 percent of diet off the Western Antarctic Peninsula in a 2021 isotope and fatty-acid study | The FA model estimated that E. superba contributed 84% to the diet, whereas the SI model determined that E. superba contributed 91% (note: 2021 is the paper's publication year (sampling was austral summer 2015); n=21 seals, Danco Coast, Western Antarctic Peninsula) |
| A 2021 study that sampled 21 crabeater seals off the Western Antarctic Peninsula, using stable isotopes and fatty acids | 21 crabeater seals (10 adult males, 9 adult females, and 2 juvenile females) ... were sampled while hauled out on sea ice off the Danco Coast, Western Antarctic Peninsula (note: 2021 is the publication year; sampling was in the austral summer of 2015) |
| estimated krill made up 84 to 91 percent of their diet depending on the method | The FA model estimated that E. superba contributed 84% to the diet, whereas the SI model determined that E. superba contributed 91% |
| Krill, Almost Exclusively | both methods identified krill, Euphausia superba , as the main, and almost exclusive, food item |
| A 2021 study that measured both stable isotopes and fatty acids in seals off the Antarctic Peninsula estimated krill at 84 to 91 percent of the diet, with the two biochemical methods giving slightly different numbers for the same animals. | The FA model estimated that E. superba contributed 84% to the diet, whereas the SI model determined that E. superba contributed 91% (note: 2021 is the publication year; the study measured the same 21 seals by both methods) |
| Nearly all of it. | both methods identified krill, Euphausia superba , as the main, and almost exclusive, food item (note: paraphrase of 'the main, and almost exclusive, food item'; 84 to 91 percent in the next sentence) |

## Kienle & Berta (2015). The better to eat you with: the comparative feeding morphology of phocid seals (Pinnipedia, Phocidae). Journal of Anatomy.

https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.12410

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A study of seal feeding anatomy says the crabeater's filter feeding and the leopard seal's grip-and-tear are specialized strategies with their own adaptations | Grip and tear and filter feeding are specialized strategies with specific morphological adaptations. These unique adaptations have allowed leopard seals (Hydrurga leptonyx) and crabeater seals (Lobodon carcinophaga) to exploit novel ecological niches and prey types. (note: the abstract also calls suction feeding specialized, so 'one of just two specialized strategies' was cut) |
| exploit novel ecological niches and prey types | to exploit novel ecological niches and prey types |

## Wege, Salas & LaRue (2021). Ice matters: Life-history strategies of two Antarctic seals dictate climate change eventualities in the Weddell Sea. Global Change Biology.

https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15828

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A 2021 review similarly calls the species "likely one of the most abundant marine mammals in the world." | a capital breeder and likely one of the most abundant marine mammals in the world (Laws, 1977) (note: 2021 is the review's publication year; the abundance line is its citation of Laws (1977)) |

## Curtis, Stewart & Karl (2009). Pleistocene population expansions of Antarctic seals. Molecular Ecology.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294x.2009.04166.x

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A mitochondrial DNA study of seals from the Amundsen and Ross seas suggests their population expanded suddenly around 1.6 million years ago, during a period of intensified glaciation that may have opened up more pack ice habitat | We sequenced a portion ( c . 475 bp) of the mitochondrial control region of three species of Antarctic phocid carnivores ... of the western Amundsen and Ross seas of western Antarctica. ... suggesting that their populations expanded suddenly around 731 000 years ago (Weddell seals) and around 1.6 million years ago (crabeater seals). Both of these expansions occurred during times of intensified glaciations and may have been fostered by expanding pack ice habitat. (note: the 1.6 million year figure is the crabeater seal estimate; the Weddell seal figure (731,000 years) is not used in the claim) |

## Smith et al. (1981). Coordinated behavior of killer whales, Orcinus orca, hunting a crabeater seal, Lobodon carcinophagus. Canadian Journal of Zoology.

https://doi.org/10.1139/z81-167

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| in an observation published in 1981, a pod of seven orcas swam as a group close to a seal lying on an ice floe, raising a wave that tipped the floe and threw the seal into the water | A pod of seven killer whales (Orcinus orca) was seen to attack a lone crabeater seal (Lobodon carcinophagus) which was lying on an ice floe. The whale located the seal, moved away from the floating ice, then swam as a group close to the floe. This caused a wave which tipped up the ice floe and broke over it, causing the seal to be thrown into the water. (note: 1981 is the publication year; the abstract gives no observation date, and says no kill could be confirmed, so the page claims none) |

## Younger et al. (2026). High pathogenicity avian influenza virus H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b in Antarctica: Multiple Introductions and the First Confirmed Infection of Ice-Dependent Seals. openRxiv.

https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.01.04.697571

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A 2026 preprint, not yet peer-reviewed, reports the first confirmed H5N1 bird flu infection in an Antarctic ice-dependent seal, a crabeater, and crabeater seal deaths across the northern Weddell Sea in November and December 2024. | We report the first confirmed H5N1 infection in an Antarctic ice-dependent seal (crabeater seal; Lobodon carcinophaga) and document mortality of crabeater seals across the northern Weddell Sea during November–December 2024. (note: openRxiv preprint; audit:sources --search found no published version on 2026-09-27. 2026 is the posting year; November-December 2024 is the mortality period the quote gives) |

## Hückstädt (2025). Lobodon carcinophaga. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2025: e.T12246A294810299.

https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2025-2.rlts.t12246a294810299.en

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| The IUCN Red List's current entry, published in 2025, lists Lobodon carcinophaga as Least Concern. | IUCN Red List category: Least Concern (LC). (note: category read through GBIF's copy of the Red List; 2025 is the publication year in the reference's Crossref-verified DOI (2025-2), not an assessment year) |