The Caspian turtle 14.9.92

The Caspian turtle or Striped-neck terrapin (Mauremys caspica) is a species of turtle in the family Geoemydidae, living of the eastern Mediterranean region. It ranges from southwestern former USSR and central Iran to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Israel and Lebanon, northward through Turkey to Bulgaria, and through Cyprus, Crete, and the Ionian Peninsula to former Yugoslavia. This is a tan to blackish, medium-sized (to 25 cm), semi-aquatic turtle. Its low, oval carapace has a slight medial keel (better developed in juveniles) and a smooth unserrated marginal border, which is slightly upturned and tapered above the tail. A pair of low lateral keels are present on the pleural scutes of hatchlings but these become lower with age and disappear completely in adults. Females are generally larger than males, have flat plastra and shorter tails with the vent under the rim of the carapace. The smaller males have concave plastra and longer, thicker tails with the vent beyond the rim of the carapace. This Maxi card was given by Merja.

The spotted seal

Sorry My Friend for disturbing you during your well earned siesta!

The spotted seal, also known as the larga or largha seal is considered a "true seal". It inhabits ice floes and waters of the North Pacific Ocean and adjacent seas. It is primarily found along the continental shelf of the Beaufort, Chukchi, Bering and Okhotsk Seas and south to the northern Yellow Sea and it migrates south as far as northern Huanghai and the western Sea of Japan. It is also found in Alaska from the southeastern Bristol Bay to Demarcation Point during the ice-free seasons of summer and autumn when spotted seals mate and have pups. Smaller numbers are found in the Beaufort Sea. It is sometimes mistaken for the harbor seal to which it is closely related and spotted seals and harbor seals often mingle together in areas where their habitats overlap.

The reduction in arctic ice floes due to global warming led to concerns that the spotted seal was threatened with extinction. Studies were conducted on its population numbers, with the conclusion, as of October 15, 2009, that the spotted seal population in Alaskan waters is not currently to be listed as endangered by NOAA.

Thank you Dear Sveta from Khabarovsk who has sent more than a dozen such beautiful cards of the Primorye, which I will be posting from time to time.