The article will focus on one unique creation of nature - an animal living in the ice. This lionfish lives in the seas of the cold northern regions.
These unusual creatures have a peculiar color. Lionfish are officially called striped seals (photo presented in the article). Scientists have classified them as predatory mammals and are assigned to the family of true seals.
Habitat
This animal is adapted to live in the cold waters of the northern seas: Okhotsk, Chukchi, Bering. They are also common in the Tatar Strait.
In spring and early summer, the striped seal 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 with ice drift, they may also be near the coast. The location of the striped seals in autumn and winter is not known exactly.
Description
The striped seal (or lionfish) is a large animal of the genus of seals.
An 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 against a black background are wide contrasting white stripes (width - 5-15 cm). These stains are ring-shaped 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 female fur is colored in less contrasting shades: it is much lighter, and the stripes often merge and are almost indistinguishable. Immature predators after the very first molt become monochromatic gray. Newborns have white thick fur that lasts about two weeks.
In the lionfish, about 8 vibrissae (tactile hairs) are located above the eyes, and about 40 in the lips, and at the tip of the muzzle these whiskers are slightly wavy. The front flippers end with the fingers, the longest and most noticeable of which is the first.
Lifestyle
Striped seals choose white ice floes with a flat surface, sometimes they are even very high. Lionfish perfectly jump out of the water to their surface.
By behavior, these mammals are very cautious: they carefully approach the choice of ice, examining it and jumping several times out of the water on it. However, on the ice itself, they tend to lose their vigilance, which allows their enemies to get close enough. Moreover, it is much easier to do with respect to lionfish than with other species of seals.
Seals can drift on ice for quite some time, only occasionally diving under water in search of food. They can even sleep right on the ice, making sure that there is no danger. It is at these moments that seals become vulnerable because they fall asleep tightly.
Lionfish (striped seals) are not adapted to live in large herds. Usually on an ice floe you can meet about 2-3 individuals at a time. Like many other inhabitants of the ice, they swim and dive beautifully. And from the water they quite skillfully jump onto the surface of the ice floe in order to enjoy the prey caught in the water.
Under natural conditions, these amazing striped animals live for about 30 years.
Food
Striped predators feed on organisms that live in the waters of the northern seas. For example, on the Bering Sea, they prey on shrimp, some mollusks, herring, saffron cod and saiga. Striped seals that live in the waters of the Sea of Okhotsk feed on mollusks and crustaceans, pollock, cod, and capelin. Small cubs that are old enough to forage for themselves catch small crustaceans.
Most often, seals come up to hunt at night.
Progeny
The mating season is the summer months (July-August). They mate on drifting ice. In a state of pregnancy, a fertilized female is about 9 months old, then babies are born (in May). A newborn baby seal is similar to a woolly fluffy ball of pure white. Thanks to this, it is not at all noticeable against the background of ice, but only black round eyes give out it. At birth, cubs have a body length 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. The kid does not enter the water right away, but in case of danger, he hides between piles of ice debris (hummocks). After the change of white fur to dark, the cub 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 begins a little earlier.
Enemies in nature
The main enemies encroaching on the life of the striped seal are killer whales. Polar bear likes to enjoy 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 destroys wonderful creatures, not fully realizing that the reserves of the natural pantry are also not infinite … They must be protected even if they are unique and inimitable.
