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Animal Weight

How much does a Crabeater seal weight?

It is hard to guess what a Crabeater seal weights. But we have the answer:

An adult Crabeater seal (Lobodon carcinophaga) on average weights 225 kg (496.04 lbs).

The Crabeater seal is from the family Phocidae (genus: Lobodon). It is usually born with about 20 kg (44.09 lbs). They can live for up to 39 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 2.27 meter (7′ 6″).

As a reference: An average human weights in at 62 kg (137 lbs) and reaches an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). Humans spend 280 days (40 weeks) in the womb of their mother and reach around 75 years of age.

The average adult weight of a Crabeater seal is 225 kg (496.04 lbs)

The crabeater seal (Lobodon carcinophaga), also known as the krill-eater seal, is a true seal with a circumpolar distribution around the coast of Antarctica. They are medium- to large-sized (over 2 m in length), relatively slender and pale-colored, found primarily on the free-floating pack ice that extends seasonally out from the Antarctic coast, which they use as a platform for resting, mating, social aggregation and accessing their prey. They are by far the most abundant seal species in the world. While population estimates are uncertain, there are at least 7 million and possibly as many as 75 million individuals. This success of this species is due to its specialized predation on the abundant Antarctic krill of the Southern Ocean, for which it has uniquely adapted, sieve-like tooth structure. Indeed, its scientific name, translated as “lobe-toothed (lobodon) crab eater (carcinophaga)”, refers specifically to the finely lobed teeth adapted to filtering their small crustacean prey. Despite its name, crabeater seals do not eat crabs. As well as being an important krill predator, the crabeater seal is an important component of the diet of leopard seals (Hydrurga leptonyx), which are responsible for 80% of all crabeater pups deaths.

Animals of the same family as a Crabeater seal

We found other animals of the Phocidae family:

Animals with the same weight as a Crabeater seal

As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Lobodon carcinophaga:

Animals with the same size as a Crabeater seal

Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Crabeater seal:

Animals with the same life expectancy as a Crabeater seal

Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Crabeater seal: