In a picture that appears in the May 2014 issue of National Geographic magazine, a lone harp seal hugs thinning ice near the Madeleine Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Pups spend their first month on an ice floe, a precarious nursery as ice shrinks in the gulf.

See more pictures from the May 2014 feature story "The Generous Gulf."

Hear David Doubilet speak about his passion for underwater photography »
Read about Jennifer Hayes's encounter with a harp seal »