Qasigiaq • Harbour Seal

Indigenous Knowledge

qasigiaq 'ranger or fresh-water seal' (Aivilingmiutitut, Spalding 1998, p. 110)

Kasigiak 'Hair seal (Ranger seal). n. Dotter (old Ranger seal). n. Kasigianniagiattujut. They are going ranger seal hunting.' (Nunatsiavummiutut, Nunatsiavut, Labrador Virtual Museum)
 

Western Knowledge

The harbor (or harbour) seal (Phoca vitulina), is the most widely distributed species of pinniped and is found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. 

There are three subspecies in Canada; Pacific, Atlantic, and a freshwater subspecies of the Lacs des Loups Marins area of Québec’s Ungava peninsula which are landlocked.

Main Photo Credit: Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina) by Gregory Smith, 2011. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harbor_Seal_(Phoca_vitulina).jpg. Licenced with CC BY-SA 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en.
Second Photo Credit: Harbor seal (Phoca vitulina vitulina) by Marcel Burkhard, 2005. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seehund.jpg. Licenced with CC BY-SA 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0.