Translation 2783

..... 31
blots -of ink, are scattered •over the background colbur on. tne back
and sides. The lar,-,est spots are on the back and are as lar,^;e as the
palm of one's hand; their colour varies from dark-brown to blackishbrown.
The spots on the neck are smaller, rounded with vague outlines,
and usually walnut-sized. The head is black: There are small
dark-brown spots with narrow dark stz•ipes on the digits of ttie front
and rea.r flippers on both sides. The claws are lit,ht-brown. I., iie
belly is liglht--F;rey, with variations from darlcer to ligiiter tints.
s^ew-born pups and yearlings differ gruatly in colour from
older animals. The pups have already moulted at birth (tiie first
moult takos place in the uterus, and discs of liFht-^rey embryonic
fur are usually observed in the amniotic cavity and also in the newborn
pup's intestine). The basic colourin^ of the pup's post-embryonic
fur is dark-grey, with silvery and blue iridescence, as a result
of which the animal is called "bluesides" in 1^n,--lish. That coloùr
runs from •tiie lower edge of the nostrils below the eyes to the ear
opening, and then continues as a narrow stripe to the front flippers,
reaching the dir its; the back, the. 1;ides, the upper half of the rear
flippers, and the tail are üimilarly coloured. lhe. breast and abdomen
are white with a slight greyish tint, and the muzzle is black. '.1.'nere
are no spots: these appear only in the second year of life,. after
the first post-embryonic moult. The number of ùpots.is small in twoyear-olds,
but their number and size increase as tne seal grows older.
2^
Phociclae.
'i'he
hooded seal is one of lu-lie lar,^_:,e members of th, family
The zoolodical length of adult ::la.les. is up Lo 280 cm, and
of adult females 230 cm. On an average the :ales are it0 cn: longer
than the females. he length of new-born pu;ls is -M.:-10;i cm. he
weight of lare adult males exceeds 300 kg, tiiat of -females 160 kg,
and that of new-•born pups 25 kg.
The hooded seal is a typical pelagic animal, an inhabitant
of open a.roas of the sea and marginal drift-ic.e in the i^orth .ltlantic
(see Fi g. 2); it occasionally vi:,its the ::hore. The western limit
^
of hooded sea:L range runsr f rom the Gulf of. '3L. L cl^li .-llcç '.rlcl ,,L.:Wfounclland
to the labrador i cninc.u.La,, and thon north to lac.z..f'f z.n 1s7..T.nd as
4
fn.r as Lancaster ;.;trait. The northern lil,li.•L is dotc:rninod by the
location of the ice l,ia.1 „in, in suminer runl.f.r:c; r!'lorl ', -L h(;. csU Lil pzLra? lul
in 'L111; 1i,1.T1E^.l1.1.4111 AJ.'C'L.LI: l.l14 11, 'Llll: f1'i1Cl L..i 11ii ]:L 11^a:'11:t.`T'11