Extralimital Records of Hooded Seals (Cystophora cristata) from the Bay of Fundy and Northern Gulf of Maine

Abstract

Since the mid 19th century, only eight records of hooded seals (Cystophora cristata) have been documented from the Bay of Fundy and north- ern Gulf of Maine. Between 1994 and 1998 thirty-one additional records have been reported, suggesting a recent and dramatic increase in this ice-breeding seal in the region. Sergeant (1975) has noted the proclivity for juvenile hooded seals (Cystophora cristata), to wander outside their normal range of arctic and subarctic waters. Extralimital records of hooded seals have been reported occasionally from the east coast of North America as far south as Florida (Miller 1917), and even Puerto Rico (Guzman-Ramirez and Mignucci-Giannoni 1998). However, Squires (1968) commented that this species is infrequent along the Gulf of St. Lawrence coast of New Brunswick, in spite of whelping in small numbers in the Gulf (Sergeant 1974), and Gilpin (1874) was aware of only a single Nova Scotia record, from off the eastern shore. Since the mid-19th century, only three reports of hooded seals have been documented in the Bay of Fundy and perhaps five from the entire coast of Maine. Here we review the status of the hooded seal along the Maine coast and the Bay of Fundy and document 31 additional records from the Bay of Fundy and northern Gulf of Maine. These records show that there has been a dramatic increase in occurrences of this ice-breeding seal in the region since 1994.