The Company of Biologists

Skip to Main Content

Table 3.

Buoyancy values at different depths for seals where body composition was available

					Buoyancy (N)
Seal ID	Date	Mass (kg)	TBF%	DLV (1)	With no air in lungs	At the surface	At 1 m	At 2 m
L	Mar-02	131	13.38	5.39	–74.13	–19.84	–24.77	–28.89
	May-02	124	17.23	5.11	–61.50	–9.99	–14.68	–18.58
	Jun-02	134	22.88	5.51	–50.96	4.53	–0.51	–4.72
K	Feb-02	42.5	40.77	1.6	0.36	16.48	15.02	13.80
	Mar-02	30.4	21.73	1.4	–12.25	1.85	0.57	–0.50
	Jun-02	32.5	12.79	1.45	–19.02	–4.42	–5.74	–6.85
N	Feb-02	34.6	40.32	1.46	–0.03	14.68	13.34	12.22
	Mar-02	33	32.54	1.44	–5.75	8.76	7.44	6.34
	Jun-02	36.4	31.05	1.57	–7.51	8.31	6.87	5.67
W	Jul-04	23.9	8.07	1.14	–16.22	–4.74	–5.78	–6.65
	Aug-04	28	12.27	1.14	–16.70	–5.21	–6.25	–7.12
	Sep-04	31.4	18.69	1.23	–14.63	–2.23	–3.36	–4.30
	Sep-04	39	21.9	1.23	–15.58	–3.19	–4.32	–5.26
X	Aug-04	26.8	7.1	1.17	–18.70	–6.86	–7.94	–8.84
	Aug-04	31.6	16.26	1.38	–16.30	–2.43	–3.69	–4.74
	Sep-04	41.6	28.99	1.79	–10.40	7.66	6.01	4.65
	Oct-04	44.6	24.76	1.92	–15.18	4.11	2.36	0.90

					Buoyancy (N)
Seal ID	Date	Mass (kg)	TBF%	DLV (1)	With no air in lungs	At the surface	At 1 m	At 2 m
L	Mar-02	131	13.38	5.39	–74.13	–19.84	–24.77	–28.89
	May-02	124	17.23	5.11	–61.50	–9.99	–14.68	–18.58
	Jun-02	134	22.88	5.51	–50.96	4.53	–0.51	–4.72
K	Feb-02	42.5	40.77	1.6	0.36	16.48	15.02	13.80
	Mar-02	30.4	21.73	1.4	–12.25	1.85	0.57	–0.50
	Jun-02	32.5	12.79	1.45	–19.02	–4.42	–5.74	–6.85
N	Feb-02	34.6	40.32	1.46	–0.03	14.68	13.34	12.22
	Mar-02	33	32.54	1.44	–5.75	8.76	7.44	6.34
	Jun-02	36.4	31.05	1.57	–7.51	8.31	6.87	5.67
W	Jul-04	23.9	8.07	1.14	–16.22	–4.74	–5.78	–6.65
	Aug-04	28	12.27	1.14	–16.70	–5.21	–6.25	–7.12
	Sep-04	31.4	18.69	1.23	–14.63	–2.23	–3.36	–4.30
	Sep-04	39	21.9	1.23	–15.58	–3.19	–4.32	–5.26
X	Aug-04	26.8	7.1	1.17	–18.70	–6.86	–7.94	–8.84
	Aug-04	31.6	16.26	1.38	–16.30	–2.43	–3.69	–4.74
	Sep-04	41.6	28.99	1.79	–10.40	7.66	6.01	4.65
	Oct-04	44.6	24.76	1.92	–15.18	4.11	2.36	0.90

TBF, total body fat; DLV, diving lung volume