Table 1: the species is currently present in 15 of them (endemic, native, introduced);
Table 2: possible in 5 of them (stray, questionable);
Table 3: absent from 0 of them (extirpated, not established, misidentification, error).
Table 4: all reports listed together.
Distribution: Northeast Atlantic, Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean and the Arctic: Svalbard, Hudson Bay and Strait (Canada), Bering and Baltic Seas (Ref.
1394).
Pusa hispida hispida: Arctic Ocean, Bering Sea, North Pole, James Bay and Baffin Island (Nunavut), Strait of Belle Isle (Newfoundland), Greenland, Barents Sea, Norway, White Sea, Kamchatka, Bristol Bay in Alaska, and vagrant to Azores, Germany, Portugal, New Jersey, Southern California;
Pusa hispida botnica: Baltic Sea, Gulf of Bothnia and Finland, Sweden, Latvia;
Pusa hispida ladogensis: Russia, Gulf of Finland, Lake Ladoga, White Sea;
Pusa hispida saimensis: Finland;
Pusa hispida ochotensis: Sea of Okhotsk, Japan, Russia, Kamchatka, and vagrant to Jiangsu, China (Ref.
1522). Climate: Circumpolar, subtropical, boreal.
How to read the map
The literature species report in a territory is represented by an icon (a circle) in the middle of the
territory polygon.
Important: a report in the literature does not necessarily mean that the species is currently
present in the territory! There are errors in literature, misidentifications, and some species have
been locally or globally extirpated or eradicated.
The patterns and colours of the icon give 4 additional indications (see the legend under the map
for the signification of the different colours and patterns):
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Presence status: the colour of the ring (green: Present; orange: Possible; red:
Absent)
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Introduction status: a white 'i' in the middle of the circle indicates that the species has been introduced,
if the presence ring is green it means that the species established itself or that we don't know the current presence status,
if the presence ring is red it means that the species did not established itself.
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Threat status: the pattern of the ring (not dashed: not threatened or no information;
dashed: any status indicating that the species has a national threatened).
Important: This is the national threatened status, not the global IUCN one.
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Salinity status = milieu: the colours in the middle circle (blue: Marine; green: Brackish;
light blue: freshwater; dark green: Land).
How to interpret the map
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The icon in a territory polygon indicates that the species has been reported at least once in
the territory, BUT NOT NECESSARILY that it is present IN THE ENTIRE TERRITORY.
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It is particularly the case for large territory such as Brazil, USA, Canada, Russia, China,
India, Indonesia, Australia, etc.
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For example, a number of freshwater species present in western European territories are
also present in the western part of Russia, but not beyond the Ural mountains. Still the
icon for Russia is placed in its Asian part.
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The icon is placed approximately in the middle of the territory, even for the species that
are marine only.
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For marine species, it does not mean either that the species is present in all oceanic coasts
of the territories (e.g., Altlantic and Pacific for USA and Canada).
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So the map needs to be interpreted carefully, but we think it helps to give a quick view
of the distribution by territory, in a better way than the textual list of territories when it is
over a dozen territories.
The map in this page was supported by BioFresh that has received funding from the