Lewis & Short

phōcă, ae, and phōcē, ēs, f., = φώκη, a seal, sea-dog, sea-calf (pure Lat. vitula marina), Verg. G. 4, 432: deformes phocae, Ov. M. 1, 300; so id. ib. 2, 267; Plin. 9, 7, 6, § 19. Proteus had a span of seadogs: Protea huc rexisse vias junctis super aequora phocis, Val. Fl. 2, 319. A grandson of Cephisus is fabled to have been changed by Apollo into this animal, Ov. M. 7, 388.