Scientific name : Rhinecanthus assasi
Family : Balistidae
Size : Up to 30 cm
Depth : Up to 15 m
Distribution : Indo-Pacific

 

Morphology : The livery is greyish, ranging from yellow to brown. It is lighter on the belly. The lips are bordered with yellow, a horizontal line extends its lips which gives the impression of a large mouth and helps to deter possible enemies from attacking it.

 

Biology : They have the peculiarity of sleeping on their side and emit small buzzes when they feel in danger.

 

Scientific name : Octopus vulgaris
Family : Octopodidae

 

Scientific name : Macroramphosus scolopax
Family : Centriscidae
Size : Up to 23 cm
Depth : Up to 600 m
Distribution : Mediterranean, Atlantic and Indo-Pacific, in tropical or temperate latitudes.

 

Morphology : The body is oval, fairly high, and slightly flattened to the sides. Its tiny mouth has no teeth, and forms an elongated tube.

 

Biology : It is a herd fish which means that it lives as part of a school.

 

Scientific name : Caretta caretta
Family : Cheloniidae
Size : Up to 120 cm
Distribution : Indian, Atlantic and Pacific oceans, Mediterranean sea

 

Morphology : It’s a reptile, so it has lungs, and it has to come to the surface to breathe. It can hold its breath for a few minutes while swimming actively to several hours at rest.

 

Biology : It’s a reptile, so it has lungs, and it has to come to the surface to breathe. It can hold its breath for a few minutes while swimming actively to several hours at rest.

 

Protection status : Cites annex 1, regulation EC 338/97: Annex A, Bonn Convention Annex 1, Bern Convention: Annex 2.
IUCN red list : Vulnerable

 

Scientific name : Halichoerus grypus
Family : Phocidae

 

Geographical distribution :

 

 

Large colonies of seals are situated in England, Scotland and Ireland. There are two small colonies of grey seals in Brittany, France at Molène-Ouessant and the Sept-Îles. The stranded seals that were recovered by our treatment centre came from these colonies.

The seals at the Biarritz Aquarium

The Aquarium has been providing a home to grey seals since its creation in 1933.

Our residents

– Okéra, Titounette, Sylvestrine and Charlie (the only male in the pool) were rescued as pups aged between 1 or 2 months after being stranded on beaches along the basque and landes coastlines.
– Naïa (16 December 2005) and Noëlla (Christmas Day in 2009) were born at the Aquarium, following the mating of Charlie with Okéra.

Diet

Seals usually feed on fish. Each seal eats about 4 kg of mackerel at each meal.

Appearance

They molt, shedding their fur twice a year.

Activities

Under the water, you can see them swimming or sleeping in nooks and crannies, sometimes in the most surprising positions.

Differences between seals and sea lions

There are two main characteristics that differentiate seals from sea lions :

 

– Seals do not have any external ears, they only have an auditory canal opening.
– They cannot bend their hind flippers so they crawl when on land, whereas sea lions can rotate their hind flippers to the ground and hop.

 

Our seals are not trained, but we do encourage them to do different exercises for medical reasons and to facilitate medical care and contact between the keepers and animals.

Survival of the species

After a gestation period lasting 11 months, the mother seal gives birth during the winter and then feeds their single pup for 21 days before abruptly abandoning her offspring. Many young pups die as they are still too young to fend for themselves. Others are carried along by the sea currents that then wash them up onto the Atlantic coastline.

Weight

Grey seals weigh 15 kg at birth and 50 kg when they are weaned (3 weeks later), and when they are found stranded on the beaches, they only weigh 10 to 15 kg. Every year, the Biarritz Aquarium recovers 2 or 3 seals that are treated and nurtured to fatten them up, they are tagged before being released back into the wild near Brest. This operation is part of the natural heritage programme called l’Observatoire du Patrimoine Naturel.