Baikal Seal - Foraging

Foraging

The Baikal seal’s main food source is the golomyanka, found only in Lake Baikal. Baikal seals eat more than half of the annual produced biomass of golomyanka, some 64,000 tons. Baikal seals also eat some types of invertebrates, and the occasional omul. They feed mainly at night, when the fish come within 100 m (330 ft) of the surface. They feed with 10-20 minute dives, although this is hardly the extent of their abilities. Baikal seals have two liters more blood than any other seal of their size and can stay underwater for up to 70 minutes if they are frightened or need to escape danger.

The Baikal seal is blamed for drops in omul numbers; however, this is not the case. The omul’s main competitor is the golomyanka and by eating tons of these fish a year, Baikal seals cut down on the omul’s competition for resources.

Baikal seals do have one unusual foraging habit. In the early autumn, before the entire lake freezes, they migrate to bays and coves and hunt sculpin, a fish that lives in silty areas and as a result usually contains a lot of grit and silt in its stomach. This grit scours the seals' gastrointestinal tracts and gets rid of parasites.