The gray seal lives in the sea throughout the year, except for a few weeks in March when it breeds its puppies and mates, and in May, when it will sow fur. It both sleeps and eats at sea, and is adapted to withstand the high pressure at several hundred meters depth. The female mates two weeks after she gave birth to her puppy, and is thus pregnant 11.5 of the year's 12 months. At birth, the puppys is white and weighs about 10 kg. The seals milk is fatter than cream, and already after three weeks the puppy can weigh 40 kg. Baltic herring is the main food for gray seals. Adult seals can also eat other species of fish, but Herring is the most important for the seals. An adult seal can eat up to 7 kg of fish per day.
In the water around Märket, and specifically on the islands of Sankarna, there is a large seal colony of about 200 individuals of both gray seal and ringed seal.
During the trip out to Märket, we're on the lookout for seals.
