First record of Grey Seal (Halichoerus grypus) in the Mediterranean Sea (Eivissa, Balearic Islands, Spain)

Abstract

Grey seal Halichoerus grypus (Fabricius, 1791), inhabits both sides of the North Atlantic Ocean with three isolated populations both geographically and by the timing of reproduction (Bonner 1981, Härkönen et al. 2007) (Fig. 1). The populations are distributed in the Baltic, Northeast and Northwest Atlantic, respectively. However, wandering individuals have been observed from as far south as Virginia (USA) in the western Atlantic and Portugal and Spain in the eastern Atlantic (Themido 1948, Zulueta 1962). In the past few years, strandings First record of Grey Seal (Halichoerus grypus) in the Mediterranean Sea (Eivissa,