Ross Seal. Credit: Cassandra Brooks
The Ross Seal (Ommatophoca rossii) is Antarctica’s only specially protected species. It is also one of the region’s most mysterious creatures because we know almost nothing about it.
This is because they breed and moult in pack ice, which is very difficult for scientists to reach, even with an icebreaker. They then seem to spend the rest of their lives swimming in the Southern Ocean.
So it is somewhat ironic that the Antarctic’s most rarely seen seal has extremely large eyes. All the better to see fish, krill and zooplankton with, my dear.
What we do know is that they have an unworldly voice that sounds like it would be more at home in a science fiction film than in the Southern Ocean. Listen to the incredible sounds they make underwater via the recording below.
SAEF is working to change how much we know about this amazing species so that we can save it and its song.