1 First Record of a Seal at the Al Shaheen area: A Remarkable Observation in the Arabian Gulf John MK Wong 1 , Shivani S Patel 1 , Ibrahim Al-Maslamani 1 1 Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Doha, Qatar Abstract On 1st October 2023, a noteworthy observation of a brown spotted seal was documented at the Al Shaheen oil platform, located approximately 90 km northeast offshore from the northern coast of Qatar. The sighting, made at 1:25 p.m., involved the observation of an adult male seal, estimated to be around 160 cm in length, climbing onto a tubular cross beam with a diameter of 1m. Four photographs of the seal were captured and subsequently sent to the Ministry of Environment for identification. The distinct brown patches and spot pattern exhibited by the seal strongly resemble the characteristics of an adult male Caspian seal (Pusa caspica). This observation is particularly significant given the geographical distance from the Caspian Sea, where the nearest population of Caspian seals resides. This paper presents the details of the sighting, discusses the potential origins of Caspian Seals (Pusa caspica) in the Arabian Gulf and implications for marine ecology in the Arabian Gulf, and underscores the importance of further research on the dispersal and habitat preferences of Caspian seals in non-native regions. Keywords: Caspian seal, Pusa caspica, Qatar, Species Distribution, First Sighting Introduction The Caspian seal, Pusa caspica, is a species native to the Caspian Sea, with reported populations in Iran, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Russia, and Kazakhstan. The Caspian Environmental Protect Centre estimates the total population of the Caspian seal is 70,000 (The Guardian, 2022). The species is classified as ‘Endangered’ according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List due to ongoing population decline caused by various threats, including overfishing and habitat degradation (Goodman et al., 2016). They are threatened by habitat destruction, reduction in food, chemical pollutants, viruses, and bacterial infections as well as traditional hunting (Moghaddamipour et al., 2014). In the 20 th century, the Caspian seal population was estimated to be 1 million was reduced to 350,000 by 2010, and over 200,000 had once been hunted in a year in the 1930s (Rucevska et al., 2012). While sightings of Caspian seals have primarily been limited to their native range, the documented sighting at the Al Shaheen oil platform in the Arabian