Dynamics of developmental stability of seals and pollution in the Baltic Sea

Fluctuating asymmetry of skull characters, as a measure of developmental stability, wás studied in two seal species: grey seal Halichoerus gry pus (Fabricius, 1791), and ringed seal Pusa hispida Schreber, 1775 from the Baltic Sea. Seals were collected in three different periods of water pollution of the Baltic Sea. We revealed the same temporal dynamics of fluctuating asymmetry level for both species: it proved to be low in "pre-pollution period" (years 1877-1936), high for the "high-pollution period" (1964-1975), and was again low for the "low-pollution period" (1986-1990). These data suggest that changes in the condition of the seal populations in the Baltic Sea revealed by changes in developmental stability are correlated with the dynamics of the pollution level.