| Saimaa ringed seal | |
|---|---|
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| Saimaa ringed seal pictured in 2023 | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Clade: | Pinnipedia |
| Family: | Phocidae |
| Genus: | Pusa |
| Species: | |
| Subspecies: | P. h. saimensis
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| Trinomial name | |
| Pusa hispida saimensis (Nordquist, 1899)
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| Synonyms | |
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Phoca hispida saimensis
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The Saimaa ringed seal (Pusa hispida saimensis, Finnish: saimaannorppa) is a subspecies and glacial relict of ringed seal (Pusa hispida).[2] They are among the most endangered seals in the world, having a total population of only about 400 individuals.[3] The only existing population of these seals is found in Lake Saimaa, Finland (hence the name). They have lived in complete isolation from other ringed seal species for around 9,500 years and have diverged into a morphologically and ecologically different subspecies of ringed seal.[4] The population is descended from ringed seals that were separated from the rest when the land rose after the last ice age. This seal, along with the Ladoga seal and the Baikal seal, is one of the few living freshwater seals.
- ^ Sipilä, T. (2016). "Pusa hispida ssp. saimensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T41675A66991678. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T41675A66991678.en.
- ^ Strandberg, Ursula; Sipilä, Tero; Koskela, Jouni; Kunnasranta, Mervi; Käkelä, Reijo (2011). "Vertical fatty acid profiles in blubber of a freshwater ringed seal — Comparison to a marine relative". Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 407 (2): 256. Bibcode:2011JEMBE.407..256S. doi:10.1016/j.jembe.2011.06.021.
- ^ "Saimaa Ringed Seal". Retrieved 22 December 2018.
- ^ Palo, J.U. (2003). "Postglacial loss of microsatellite variation in the landlocked Lake Saimaa ringed seal". Conservation Genetics. 4 (2): 117–128. doi:10.1023/a:1023303109701. ISSN 1566-0621. S2CID 25621332.