Ladoga ringed seal (Phoca hispida ladogensis) is an endemic freshwater subspecies of ringed seal, a relict of the glacial epoch, included in Red Data Books of Russia and Karelia, World Conservation Union Red List as a vulnerable subspecies with a narrow range. Life in a closed ecosystem preconditioned low abundance of the seal restricted by the ecological capacity of Lake Ladoga. Heavy hunting pressure of the 1920's-30's, when more than 1500 animals were sometimes shot in a season, and introduction of capron nets in the 1950's, when only the recorded number of seal deaths in the nets reached 700 animals annually, markedly reduced the size of the Ladoga ringed seal population.



In 1994 the population was recorded to include some 3,000-7,000 individuals.