hooded seal

American  

noun

1. a large seal, Cystophora cristata, the male of which has a large, distensible, hoodlike sac on the head.

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hooded seal British  

noun

1. Also called: bladdernose.  a large greyish earless seal, Cystophora cristata, of the N Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, having an inflatable hoodlike sac over the nasal region

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Etymology

Origin of hooded seal

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

The hooded seal has moved from Vulnerable to Endangered, while the bearded and harp seals are now Near Threatened due to shrinking sea ice.

From BBC • Oct. 10, 2025

But most of the bones are marine: scraps of whale bone, jaw and skull fragments of harp seals, a bit of inner ear of a hooded seal.

From Science Magazine • Nov. 10, 2016

Peter busied himself with cleaning and inflating a number of the larger entrails and membranous viscera of the hooded seal.

From Adrift in the Ice-Fields by Hall, Charles W.