Elkhorn Slough Mammals: Sea Otter

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Scientific Name:
Enhydra lutris

Family:
Mustelidae

Found at the Slough:
Open salt water and beaches from the bay to the Reserve.

Did you know...
Sea otters eat 25% of their weight in food each day.

Sea otters are without a doubt the most popular animal here at the Slough. Also known as the Southern Sea Otter, this sub species of otter is found from California to Washington With other sub-species found in Alaska, Canada, Russia, and Japan.

Here at the Slough they can be found in open water or hauled out on the mudflats in the main slough channel, from Moss Landing harbor to Hudson Landing, but most common in the North harbor area.

Otters eat clams, crabs, oysters, abalone, sea urchin, other small marine species. Sea otters eat approximately 25% of their weight in food each day.

Sea otters have more between 500,000 and 1 million hairs per square inch. Unlike other marine mammals who have a layer of blubber to keep warm the otter utilizes its dense hairs help protect them from the cold water. Otters are also one of the few mammals who use tools. Otters commonly use rocks to open prey, such as gaper clams here in the slough. When not eating or grooming, otters relax on their backs, floating with the tides down the waters of the Slough.

Southern sea otters, the sea otters found here in the slough are listed as threatened under the federal ESA and fully protected under California state law. The Southwest stock of northern sea otters in Alaska is listed as threatened under the ESA. In Canada, the sea otter population in British Columbia is classified as threatened by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC).

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