Sea Otter
Enhydra lutris
The largest member of the weasel family, the sea otter is also the 2nd smallest marine mammal.
Sea Otter Comments (6)
BiologicalTwist13
"I was doing a project on sea otters and i used this website(I got an A).
SEA OTTER FACTS
Description
The Sea Otter has brown or reddish brown fur. The tail is less than a third of the body length. They have the densest fur of all mammals - this helps them maintain warmth in the ocean.
Sea otters live in the coastal waters of the northern Pacific ocean, from northern Japan to Alaska and down the coast of California. These areas have the rocky shores and dense kelp plants that sea otters like.
Sea otters are sleek, furry, streamlined marine mammals that live along rocky Pacific Ocean coasts, bays, and kelp beds. They are found from the coast of California through Alaska and along the eastern coast of Russia to northern Japan.
Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris)
No photo of the Sea Otter available.
The Sea Otter is from the order Carnivora. The Carnivora (or carnivores) are meat eating mammals.
Sea otter fur is the densest of all mammalian fur. This, plus its softness and lustre, makes sea otter pelts the most valuable of any mammal.
Sea Otter
Related Category: Vertebrate Zoology
see otter.
More on Sea Otter
Otter - name for a number of aquatic, carnivorous mammals of the weasel family, found on all continents except Australia.
Sea otters, Enhydra lutris (Linnaeus, 1758), are the largest member of the Family Mustelidae (70 species of river otters, skunks, weasels, badgers, etc.) and are the smallest marine mammal in North America. Males weigh 22-45 kg and are 1.2-1.
Sea otters are meticulously clean. After eating, they wash themselves in the ocean, cleaning their coat with their teeth and paws. They have good reason to take care of their coats-it helps them to remain waterproof and insulated against the cold.
Sea otters are one of the only mammals other than primates known to use tools. Otters use small rocks or other shellfish to pry prey from rocks and to hammer or pry open their food. They can dive up to 180 feet when foraging for food.
A sea otter's fur contains an estimated 650,000 hairs per square inch. Air is trapped between the hairs, keeping the animal dry.
SIZE:
The sea otter is the largest member of the weasel family. Southern sea otters typically reach about four feet in length. Females average 45 pounds, while males average 65 pounds. Northern sea otters can reach up to 100 pounds.
Sea Otters
Videos:
Steller Cove: An Introduction
Sea Otters Celebrate the 4th of July
Sea Otter Thelma's Surgery and Recovery ...
Sea otters are one of the largest otter species. Rarely coming ashore, sea otters spend most of their time in the kelp forests off the west coast of America, Alaska and Russia.
Sea otters sleep, rest, and usually swim by paddling with their hindflippers on their backs. California sea otters spend almost all of their time in the water, while Alaska sea otters often sleep, groom, and nurse their young on land.
3.
Sea Otter in Motion
If you look closely you can see the bubbles of air escaping from its fur as it swims along.
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Distribution ...
Sea Otter
Order: Carnivora
Family: Mustelidae
Enhydra lutris - female and juvenile above, male below
Click to enlarge. (106 kb) ...
Sea otters (Enhydra lutris) live along the Pacific coast of North America. Their historic range included shallow waters of the Bering Strait and Kamchatka, and as far south as Japan.
Sea Otter
Enhydra lutris
The Sea Otter eats, sleeps, mates, and even gives birth at sea, and can remain underwater for 4 to 5 minutes. When it dives for shellfish, such as mussels or abalone, it also brings up a small rock.
Sea otters are the smallest marine mammals. Sea otters are members of the weasel or Mustelidae family and are closely related to the mink and river otters.
Sea otters are solitary for the most part. Males congregate in groups when resting. Females tend to stay away from males except when mating. Sea otters can spend their whole life in the ocean but will rest on land when the population density is high.
Sea Otter
Enhydra lutris
Playful sea otters thrive in the frigid waters of the Pacific Ocean among some of the world's richest fisheries. Their habitat includes kelp forests, beds of salt-water algae that provide rich habitat for other living things.
Sea otters have been known to feed on red sea urchins. But now, since sea otters are considered an endangered species, the population of red sea urchins is rising!
Fisheries & Oceans Canada
Species & Habitats of British Columbia
Did You Know?
SEA OTTER
Sea otters are marine mammals with very dense, waterproof fur.
WEASEL
Weasels are small, furry mammals with short legs.
Sea otters rarely venture more than one mile off shore. Instead they live in small herds in shallow waters, particularly around kelp beds, great forests of seaweed, rich in shellfish, fish and other marine life.
Sea Otters in California
Katherine Ralls studies population dynamics and movements of California sea otters.
The sea otter, found in and near kelp beds in the North Pacific, is a larger heavier animal of the same family which habitually swims on its back. While in this position it carries its catch and eats some its meals of abalone, crab, and sea urchin.
A gull landing on a sea otter, probably trying to steal its prey
Gulls also steal food from people
A gull eating a sea star ...
fish (Ictalurus spp.), alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), chain pickerel (Esox niger), sucker (Catostomus spp.), salmon (Oncorhyncus spp.), white perch (Morone americana), smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieui), eel (Anguilla rostrata), sea otter ...
A furrier or skin merchant must possess a good eye for colour to be successful, the difference in value on this subtle matter solely (in the rarer precious sorts, especially sables, natural black, silver and blue fox, sea otters, chinchillas, ...
We saw more than 100 Sea Otters on this trip some in rafts of 25 or more animals. Sea Otters were badly hurt by the Exxon Valdez oil spill, but seem to be making a recovery.
Discussion The Great White Shark (officially called just the White Shark) feeds on a variety of fish, including other sharks, as well as sea lions, birds, sea otters, sea turtles, carrion, and, occasionally, undigestible garbage.
Getting to "Nose" You Sea otters are playful animals. They use touch to establish social bonds and to scent mark. Otters often rub their faces together and touch noses. The sea otter may even touch noses with other animals like seals and sea lions! ...
: Leather stars are preyed upon by sea gulls and sea otters. Sea otters tend to only eat a part of the Leather star, which allows the remainder of the sea star the chance to regenerate.
Some otters, like the European and African clawless otter, hunt fish, octopus, frogs and other aquatic prey. Others, such as the sea otter, stick to shellfish.
For more on Pandas, visit Christina Bergner's, Giant Panda pages
Friends of the Sea Otter
International Association for Bear Research and Management
International Otter Survival Fund
Save the Tiger Fund
World Wide Raccoon Web ...
{families of Hyanidae, Mustielidae, Procyonidae, Viverridae} Badger, Beaver, California Sea Otter, Coatimundi, Ferret, Hyena, Meerkat, Panda Bear, Racoon, River Otter ...
Congo clawless otter (Aonyx congicus)
North American otter (Lontra canadensis)
Marine otter (Lontra felina)
Sea otter (Enhydra lutris)
Common otter (Lutra lutra)
European polecat (Mustela putorius) ...
 See also: Otter, Panda, Sea Lion, Shell, Whale
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