Dr. G. Carleton Ray has been studying pinnipeds of both the Arctic and Antarctic for a half-century. He is a graduate of Yale (BS 1950), the University of California , Berkeley (M.S. 1953), and Columbia University (PhD, 1960). When not in cooler parts, he delves into biodiversity and conservation science and is a coauthor of Ray and McCormick-Ray (2004) Coastal-Marine Conservation: Science and Policy , Blackwell Science (see review: Conservation Biology 20 (6)).

The ribbon seal ( Histriophoca fasciata ) is a flagship species for t he loss of the Arctic 's annual sea-ice biome due to climate change, which is emerging as among the most urgent conservation crises of our times.  This seal requires sea ice of the central-western Bering Sea for reproduction and molting from April through June, and is pelagic for the rest of the year, almost never venturing onto land. Pups nurse for about a month on the ice with their moms. Following weaning. females reproduce again, leaving the fat pups on their own, living on their blubber layer, and shedding their white coats for a lustrous hair on grey to brownish, then learning to feed. So, if sea ice goes, as is now happening, so goes this spectacular species. Other Beringian ice-dependent pinnipeds are also at risk: --the Pacific walrus ( Odobenus rosmarus ), bearded seal ( Erignathus barbatus ), spotted seal ( Phoca largha ), and ringed seal ( Phoca hispida ) -- but none so much as the ribbon seal.

Photographs © G. Carleton Ray
taken aboard the BEST cruise of the icebreaker USCGC Healy, April 2007 .