MMP007: Common Seal

A young common seal (Phoca vitulina) on the Isle of May in the Firth of Forth. Despite the name, common seals are actually rarer than the grey seal in Scotland, and were particularly badly affected by Phocine Distemper Virus (PDV) in 1988, when the disease wiped out around half of the UK population. A second outbreak occurred in 2002, but did not have the same impact, due to residual immunity from the original outbreak.