Leopard seal

Open encyclopedia reference

The leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx), also referred to as the sea leopard, is a long and muscular seal native to the Southern Ocean of Antarctica and southern Patagonia. It is the second largest species of seal in the Antarctic (after the southern elephant seal). It is the same length as, but half the weight of, a walrus. Its fur coat is countershaded, being silver on the bottom and dark gray on the top, and is distinctive for its leopard-like pattern of dark spots.

The leopard seal is an apex predator, with massive jaws, and teeth which are 2.5 cm (1 in) long. It feeds on a wide range of prey including its fellow pinnipeds, cephalopods, krill, fish, and birds, particularly penguins. Its only natural predator is the orca. It uses its hearing and whiskers to track prey underwater.

It is the only species in the genus Hydrurga. Its closest relatives are the Ross seal, the crabeater seal, and the Weddell seal, which are all Antarctic seals of the tribe Lobodontini.

Wikipedia contributors, Leopard seal; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:19:59.256864+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Hydrurga leptonyx (de Blainville, 1820)

Name authority

(de Blainville, 1820)

Common name

Leopard seal

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Carnivora

Family

Phocidae

Genus

Hydrurga

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
11. orderCarnivora Bowdich, 1821
12. suborderCaniformia Kretzoi, 1938
13. familyPhocidae Gray, 1821
14. genusHydrurga Gistel, 1848
15. speciesHydrurga leptonyx (de Blainville, 1820)

Close classified relatives

No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.

Browse 17 records assigned to Phocidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=180667 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:6MKHD. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.