Phocinae

Northern seals Temporal range:EarlyMiocene–Holocene
Harbor seal,Phoca vitulina
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Clade:	Pinnipedia
Family:	Phocidae
Subfamily:	Phocinae Gray,1821
Tribes and genera
†Frisiphoca †Leptophoca †Cryptophoca †Monotherium †Prophoca †Monachopsis †Sarmatonectes †Phocanella †Kawas ErignathiniChapski, 1955 †Platyphoca Erignathus CystophoriniBurns & Fay, 1970 †Miophoca †Pachyphoca Cystophora PhociniJ. E. Gray, 1821 †Nanophoca Pagophilus Histriophoca †Gryphoca Halichoerus †Batavipusa †Praepusa Pusa Phoca

Phocinae(known colloquially as "Northern seals") is a subfamily ofPhocidaewhose distribution is found in the seas surrounding theHolarctic,with theBaikal seal(Pusa sibirica) being the world's onlyfreshwaterspecies ofpinniped.What distinguishes them from other phocid seals is the presence of well-developed claws on their front and back flippers.The Phocinae is divided into three extanttribes:Erignathini(represented by the sole extantbearded sealErignathus barbatus),Cystophorini(another extant monotypic tribe represented byhooded sealCystophora cristata), andPhocini(represented by the rest of the other surviving species in the subfamily). Members of both Erignathini and Cystophorini have 34 chromosomes, while species in the tribe Phocini have 32 chromosomes.

Below is a composite phylogeny of the phocine genera after Berta & Churchill (2012),Dewaele et al. (2018),and Koretsky & Rahmat (2013):

Phocinae	†Frisiphoca †Leptophoca †Cryptophoca †Monotherium †Prophoca †Monachopsis †Sarmatonectes †Phocanella †Kawas Erignathini †Platyphoca Erignathus Cystophorini †Miophoca †Pachyphoca Cystophora Phocini †Nanophoca Pagophilus Histriophoca †Gryphoca Halichoerus Phoca †Batavipusa †Praepusa Pusa