Females weigh between 220 and 572 pounds and reach lengths of up to seven and a half feet. Seals living in Canadian waters grow the largest. Grey seals breed from eastern Canada to the Baltic Sea. Canadian breeding areas include the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and coastal Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Labrador. Colonies are also found in coastal Iceland, Great Britain, northern Norway, Denmark, southern Sweden, and Estonia.
Young seals wander widely.
For instance, Canadian grey seals are sometimes seen as far south as New Jersey. Grey seals breed in a variety of habitats where disturbance is minimal, including rocky shores, sandbars, ice flows, and islands. They feed in cold open waters. Grey seals eat a wide variety of fish, squid, octopus, and crustaceans such as shrimp. Sometimes they eat a seabird or two.