The article will focus on one unique creation of nature - an animal that lives in the ice. This is a lionfish that lives in the seas of the cold northern regions.
These unusual creatures have a peculiar color. Lionfish are officially called striped seals (the photo is presented in the article). Scientists classify them as predatory mammals and classify them in the family of true seals.
Habitats
This animal is adapted to living in the cold waters of the northern seas: the Sea of Okhotsk, Chukotka, Bering. They are also common in the Tatar Strait.
In spring and early summer, striped seals can be found in the ice of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea, as well as in the southern waters of the Chukchi Sea. To a greater extent, they prefer open areas of water bodies, but when ice drifts, they can also be near the coast. The location of striped seals in autumn and winter is not exactly known.
Description
Striped seal (or lionfish) - largeseal animal.
Adult grows up to two meters in length. The weight of the animal is about 90 kilograms. The main distinguishing feature is the coat color. Almost on a black background there are wide contrasting white stripes (width - 5-15 cm). These divorces are annular in shape, and there is some distance between them. It should be noted that only males have such a noticeable bright color, females are not very noticeable in this regard. The fur of the female is colored in less contrasting shades: much lighter, and the stripes often merge and are almost indistinguishable. Immature predators after the very first molt become solid gray. Newborns have thick white fur that lasts about two weeks.
The lionfish have about 8 vibrissae (tactile hairs) above the eyes, and about 40 of them near the lips, and these whiskers are slightly wavy at the tip of the muzzle. The front flippers end with fingers, the longest and most noticeable of which is the first one.
Lifestyle
Striped seals choose for themselves white ice floes with a flat surface, sometimes they are even very high. Lionfish are great at jumping out of the water onto their surface.
Behaviorally, these mammals are very cautious: they carefully choose an ice floe, examining it and jumping out of the water several times. However, on the ice floe itself, they tend to lose their vigilance, which allows their enemies to get pretty close. Moreover, it is much easier to do this in relation to lionfish than to other types of seals.
Seals can drift on ice for quite a long time, only occasionally diving under water in search of food. They can even sleep right on the ice floe, making sure that there is no danger. It is at these moments that the seals become vulnerable, because they fall asleep soundly.
Lionfish (striped seals) are not adapted to live in large herds. Usually, about 2-3 individuals can be found on an ice floe at the same time. Like many other inhabitants of the ice, they are excellent swimmers and divers. And ice floes quite deftly jump out of the water to the surface to feast on prey caught in the water.
Under natural conditions, these amazing striped animals live for about 30 years.
Food
The striped predators feed on organisms that live in the waters of the northern seas. For example, in the Bering Sea they hunt shrimp, some molluscs, herring, saffron cod and polar cod. Striped seals living in the waters of the Sea of Okhotsk feed on mollusks and crustaceans, pollock, cod, and capelin. The little ones, old enough to forage on their own, catch small crustaceans.
Most often, seals come out to hunt at night.
Offspring
Mating season - summer months (July-August). They mate on drifting ice. The fertilized female is in a state of pregnancy for approximately 9 months, then babies are born (in May). A newborn baby seal looks like a fluffy woolen ball of pure white. Due to this, it is not at all noticeable in the background.ice, and only black round eyes betray it. At birth, the cubs have a body length in the range of 70-80 cm.
Mom feeds the cub for about four weeks, then leaves him alone. The baby spends a few more weeks on the ice floe. The kid does not enter the water immediately, but in the case when danger arises, he hides between heaps of ice debris (hummocks). After changing from white to dark fur, the hatchling begins to dive on its own in search of solid food.
On average, puberty in young seals occurs at the age of 5 years, however, in females this period occurs a little earlier.
Enemies in nature
The main enemies that encroach on the life of the striped seal are killer whales. The polar bear also loves to eat their meat.
There is one more main enemy of the seal, as well as of the whole animal world. This is a man who, for the sake of fur and valuable fat, uncontrollably exterminates wonderful creatures, not fully realizing that the reserves of the natural pantry are also not endless … They must be protected, even if only because they are unique and unrepeatable.
In conclusion about the numbers
Strong decline in the number of seals of this species occurred in the middle of the twentieth century. The man brutally exterminated the lionfish, without thinking about the future. It is known that in 1969 the USSR imposed a restriction on the hunting of these mammals, as a result of which their numbers began to recover. Today, there are about 250,000 individuals.
