What is "harp seal"

Harp \Harp\ (h[aum]rp), n. [OE. harpe, AS. hearpe; akin to D. harp, G. harfe, OHG. harpha, Dan. harpe, Icel. & Sw. harpa.]

1. A musical instrument consisting of a triangular frame furnished with strings and sometimes with pedals, held upright, and played with the fingers.

2. (Astron.) A constellation; Lyra, or the Lyre.

3. A grain sieve. [Scot.]

   [AE]olian harp. See under [AE]olian.

   Harp seal (Zo["o]l.), an arctic seal ( Phoca Gr[oe]nlandica). The adult males have a light-colored body, with a harp-shaped mark of black on each side, and the face and throat black. Called also saddler, and saddleback. The immature ones are called bluesides; their fur is white, and they are killed and skinned to harvest the fur.

   Harp shell (Zo["o]l.), a beautiful marine gastropod shell of the genus Harpa, of several species, found in tropical seas. See Harpa.

n. A species ((taxlink Phoca groenlandica species noshow=1)) of true seal (or earless seal) found in the northernmost Atlantic Ocean and adjacent parts of the Arctic Ocean.

n. common arctic seal; the young are all white [syn: Pagophilus groenlandicus]

The harp seal or saddleback seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus) is a species of earless seal native to the northernmost Atlantic Ocean and parts of the Arctic Ocean. It now belongs to the monotypic genus Pagophilus. Its scientific name means "ice-lover from Greenland", and its synonym, Phoca groenlandica means "Greenland seal". Originally in the genus Phoca with a number of other species, it has since been reclassified into its own genus Pagophilus.