Translation 2783

.... -i11
colour is y,ellow. Sexually-imwature indiviüuals are olive-=brow.n,
with sl)arse spots, before the moult; after trie nioult they acauire a 76
si.lver.y-tre^y hue, with dark-grey arici black spots sça.ttexed over the
baclc and sides.
A!aon;, tileir other external features, a rather lont.,^
snout is characteristic.
The maximum zoological len•ttl of c,tie adults is 155 cm, but
the ].en^;•th utiually varies between 13.0 and V1.0 cltl.
The adults wèigh
fa.oul 50 to 60 lq;, but durin,; the period of nutri ^.i.utl t,luir,
weig-ht :f.'eache:i 90 1•,U.
The length of now-bomn pu-,)t. is 65-79 c,u, and
their body we.tGilt averages 5 kg.
Caspian seals are distributed tiirouc;,;out the Caspian Sea.
In winter and spring, during the breeding and raoultin,^ periods, most
of the herd is, coricentrated on floatinp,, ice in the nort,,arn part of
the sea.
On the break-up of the ice in i.lay some of the, seals leave
the snallow, ^ael7.-wa3:med nortiiern part of the sea and mi,,;rate south.
A largo pa.rt of the population spends the suUilller in the s-outnern and
central. areas of the sea, but others remain in the nortri. 4;i1er1 the
breeding n,szaoci approaches the seals again .ai ;rate to the north.
The location of the aupuin^-.^rounds is deter.^ine'd. not only
by the distribution of oj-,en water, whereby the ^,roul^s of f em ÿles can
penetrate into the centre of tlle ice-fields, but also by the existencé
of areas of ]nunrlocky ice. iïost of the fe;:lales producé toeir
young- in late January and early February (J ar_uax-y 25.to February 5 j.
The pupning rookeries are formed in the nort.leastern part of the icefield
(in the Gur'evskFl.fÉ1.
Basin' and in areas lyiiip; l'ldrtil and northwes,^
of Kul.ala J:s]:and : si-i-tall dis'connc.-cted concentrations are soluetines
observed botween the lZal•_u;,hechnaya and Zhe:ilCllllZllY,ey^.L Bjari:cs and betweeil
`l'yulenii and 'i;hacheii' Islands.
^^urin^ the pup ;in^; seasoi; trie îe,:la^.es ma.,^e air-holes in the
ice, as patches of o„en water rapidly freeze ove:r because of the
absence of ei;Û-and--flow cuzrent•u and of snow.cover, and also because
of the low salini.ty of the wa.tei.-: The presence of ' Flil'-ilül.es is a.
c,•:aracteristic fes.ture of pupl,ing, rookeries in the Ca.âpi.a.n :_cc,. ..i'he
concentraLions of seals in the pupl;ini; rookeries nevor L,ecome very
den;^e; the Rniina.ls uuur111y take up positions on i-.um,ucl.y ice-f ielcis
,at corlsid.erablo distances fro.:l one another.
:iew--boi:•n pups a..• bc:llc:i. (whit,ecoats ), as t:.c;y are cal.led on