Translation 2783

crab-eater seals, Weddell's seals, and Ross 's seals. The flesh -
148
whales'that had been killed has also been found in.their stomachs.
Only killer .whales can Present a threat to thiS lare seal. •
It has been reported that leopard seals often suffer from a disease
of mange type, large Skin lesions,being observed oh the head and the
flippers; tumours of the respiratory passages and tooth decay have
also been observed. 2ighteen helminth species nave been found in the
internal organs, including nine nematode species and six cestodes.
Lee -bard seals are les s numerous than crab-eater seals, and • .
perhaps even than Weddell's seals.
of
Large concentrations of leopard
seals are never found either on drift-ice or on islands. Their num..-
ber is estimated at from 100,000 to 300,000. - A census taken by American-
investigators in 1956-57 in several regions of tne Antarctic
gave a figure slightly above 16,000 in the Indian Ocean sector between
105 ° E and 112 ° E and in Ross Sea between 150 0 W and 165 ° E. By '
extrapolation based on the area of ice, the investigators calculated
the total number of leopard sealS on the ice. of Ross Sea and of the
Indian Ocean sector as being 152,000.
Ross 's Seal (OmmatOphora rossi Gray, 1844)
-
The.trunk of Ross's seal is stout and rounded in shape; the
, head is short and broad, almost retracted between the shoulders.; the
mouth is.small (Fig. 38).
The front flipFers are long. The back is
dark-grey, lighter along the spine, and the belly is ... silvery. Ill- •
defined pale-grey spots and stripes are scattered ovee the body and
on the head and-should'ers.
The zoological body length of the adults is 220-250 cm, and •
the body weight is 230-250 kg.
The maximum recorded length of males
is 275 , cm, a.d that of females 278 cm. Little is known of the existoi
sexual ci;morpi rn
ence in body measurements, but possibl y tii males are somewnat larger
A
than the females. Uew-born pups are more than 100 cm in length.
also
l '41 .1ab Pi _r,
3b. flobu'l; sual.