Editing Caspian seal (section)

{{Short description|Species of seal endemic to the Caspian Sea}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Caspian seal 03.jpg
| image_caption = A Caspian seal in Iran
| status = EN
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name=iucn>{{cite iucn |title=''Pusa caspica'' |author=Goodman, S. |author2=Dmitrieva, L. |date=2016 |page=e.T41669A45230700 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T41669A45230700.en |access-date=19 November 2021}}</ref>
| genus = Pusa
| species = caspica
| authority = ([[Johann Friedrich Gmelin|Gmelin]], 1788)
| synonyms = {{center|''Phoca caspica''}}
| range_map = Caspian Seal area.png
| range_map_caption = Caspian seal range
}}

The '''Caspian seal''' ('''''Pusa caspica''''', [[Synonym (taxonomy)|syn]]. '''''Phoca caspica''''')<ref name=iucn/> is one of the smallest members of the [[earless seal]] family and unique in that it is found exclusively in the brackish [[Caspian Sea]]. It lives along the shorelines, but also on the many rocky islands and floating blocks of ice that dot the Caspian Sea. In winter and cooler parts of the spring and autumn season, it populates the northern Caspian coastline. As the ice melts in the summer and warmer parts of the spring and autumn season, it also occurs in the deltas of the [[Volga River|Volga]] and [[Ural River]]s, as well as the southern latitudes of the Caspian where the water is cooler due to greater depth.

Evidence suggests that the colonization events of Caspian seals were probably facilitated by river connections from the Arctic that have since disappeared, landlocking the populations sometime before the major [[Pleistocene]] glaciations.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=PALO |first1=JUKKA U. |last2=VÄINÖLÄ |first2=RISTO |date=2006-04-27 |title=The enigma of the landlocked Baikal and Caspian seals addressed through phylogeny of phocine mitochondrial sequences |journal=Biological Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=88 |issue=1 |pages=61–72 |doi=10.1111/j.1095-8312.2006.00607.x |issn=0024-4066|doi-access=free }}</ref>