Translation 2783

'
69.
been discovered that Sea of Okhotsk ringed seals, beth male and female,
become mature one year earlier than 'do the Loring Sea animals. - As
with other seal species, development • of the embryo begins after a •
delay of approximately two-and-ône-half months; the total duratio n .
of gestation is about 11 months.
ï'he moultinr; period begins in the last ten days in April;
sexUally-immature animals are the first to change tneir fur covering.
Se.?mally-mature males begin to moult in Hay, .and females somewhat
later. r . 1-le peak of mass moulting occurs in the first ten days in
June, and moulting is completed for most of the animals by the last
dayS . of June; a small number of moulting seals can be obs ,...rved even •
in.August.
During the Moult the seals spend a large part of their
time on the ice-floes, and make passive migrations as these drift.
In . certain years, in areas where the ice lasts a•long time, fairly
large concentrations of moulting akibas have been observed (in. the
• coastal zone from Ushki Bay to Okhotsk, on the Shantarskie Islands, .
and in Sakhalinskii Bay).
•
When the ice disappears and moulting is completed the akibas
begin to feed vigorously, and they continue to do so. for seven or
. eight months (summer, autumn, and winter months). During the summer
and early autumn the.seals disperse through the open sea, and can be
observed swimming singly or in groups; but when ice begins to appear
they concentrate in the coastal zone, in bays and .
•
inlewts. .1'heir diet
during that period has not been thoroughly investigated, as they are
• only occasionally killed at that time. All available information on
their diet refers mainly to their period of living on tne ice, when
. they feed less intensively than.in summer and autumn.
• The akibas' diet is varied, but the chief items in it are
small planktonic crustaceans and, less . often, shrimps. I-oishes found
in their stomachs include herring, navaga, Arctic . cod, s:,elts, sand .
eels, capelin, and bullheads. In spring tne principal item, in the
diet of Sea of Okhotsk ringed seals is planktonic crustaceans, concentrations
of which tee seals find in patches of oen water and
spacou between icC-floes.
In autumn they feud mainly on fishes. in
the B ovin g t;e , a considerable part of tin' diet consihts or Arctie
owl, ;Ind prolnont anonr' crustnceans,arç: nnc 'mphioda. - it
iG belleveu tiut the inhiba' s diet classifie
it au a planLun-eaLer,
•
•