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Animal profile

Baikal Seal

Pusa sibirica

MammaliaFreshwater Lake Baikal, using winter ice and open waterLeast Concern

Field profile

The Baikal seal is the only pinniped that lives entirely in fresh water. It is confined to Lake Baikal, the world's deepest lake, where it feeds mainly on small endemic fish. It breeds in snow lairs on the winter ice and is closely related to the Arctic ringed seal.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2025-03-07

Baikal Seal

One seal lives only in a Siberian lake

The Baikal seal is the world's only exclusively freshwater pinniped, landlocked more than 1,500 kilometres from the nearest sea. How its ancestors reached the lake is still argued over, with river routes from the Arctic the leading candidate.

Read with evidence →

Baikal Seal | Daily Animal Facts