Seals in the Arctic is very common to see. The most common is Bearded seals, ringed seals, hooded seals and harbour seals. Bearded seals are the largest of the northern phocid seals. They have an extremely elaborate, long set of whiskers that tend to curl when they are dry. It is these whiskers that give the species its name.

Bearded seals have a patchy distribution throughout the circumpolar Arctic. Their preferred habitat is drifting pack ice in areas over shallow water shelves. Juvenile animals wander quite broadly, but adult animals tend to have quite small home ranges, remaining in coastal waters much of the year.

Bearded seals are found at low densities in all of Svalbard’s fjords on a year-round basis, and in coastal regions wherever there is drifting ice.