Sea Otter

Enhydra lutris · Mammal

The sea otter lives along the cool North Pacific coasts, from the Kuril Islands through the Aleutians and Alaska to California, diving in kelp forests for urchins, crabs and shellfish that it cracks with a stone. It rests floating on its back in rafts and stays in the same stretch of coast for years. Its dense fur was a prized trade good, a single pelt fetching over a thousand dollars, until hunting was stopped in 1911.

Danger

Harmless

How it is met

In colonies, by day

Size

Small

In winter

Active in winter

Where it lives

Rocky Shore, Coastal Shelf, Kelp Forest

Gives

Sea Otter Pelt

Sources

• J. Allegra, R. Rath and A. Gunderson, Enhydra lutris (sea otter). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, 2012.

Open it in Biomes — MGS Toolbox