Crabeater seal
Image copyright by Mark A. Chappell
Crabeaters are the word's most abundant pinniped, with several million animals living around the Antarctic continent. Their name derives somewhat inaccurately from their diet, which is almost exclusively composed of the Antarctic krill, a small shrimplike crustacean that is perhaps the world's most abundant animal. This crabeater was basking on a shoreline rock near Palmer Station, off the Antarctic Peninsula.