The many seal species of Antarctica all have names that are in some way explained by their appearance or primary region of distribution. Antarctic Fur Seals, Leopard Seals, Weddell Seals, Ross Seals, Southern Elephant Seals.
The Crabeater Seal, which as their moniker suggests, does not eat crabs at all. They possess a long snout, pale fur, and an affinity for ice floes. The name "crabeater" was a mistake of early whalers and sealers, who for whatever reason got it into their heads that these seals loved a diet of crustaceans. Despite the soon-realized error, the name stuck.
Instead, crabeater seals primarily eat krill. Cephalopods and Antarctic fish also make up a smaller portion of the crabeater seal diet.
The highly specialized, lobed teeth of crabeater seals allow them to swim through swarms of krill and filter out the tiny crustaceans from seawater like a sieve. With these specialized teeth, crabeater seals can eat large quantities of krill every day without exerting much energy.
Interesting fact, Crabeater Seals are the most numerous large mammals on earth after humans.
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