[Sleep of Caspian seals].

ECoG both hemispheres, EOG, neck EMG, ECG and electrical activity of olfactory bulbs were recorded in 4 free moving adult Caspean seals of both sexes. Their sleep on land and in water was compared. The wakefulness occupied 85,5 +/- 1,5% of total recording time, the slow wave sleep--12,8 +/- 1,4% and paradoxical sleep--1,7 +/- 0,2%. Unlike the dolphins, the Caspean seals possess no unihemispheric slow wave sleep. When the seals sleep on the land or on the water surface and do not change their posture for breathing they may breathe without awakening like the terrestrial mammals. But when the seals emerge or change their posture to get nostrils above the water they wake up briefly for respiration period.