Pictures of marine otters

[wet]

The sea otters of the North American west coast like to sleep on their back in the water. I've read that the marine otters of the South American west coast (a completely different species than the sea otter) also lies on its back, especially when the waves are rough. It is said that marine otter mothers carry their pups on their stomach, just like the sea otter of Alaska. But although I've seen lots of photos of marine otters, I've never found one backfloating. I would like to verify whether or not the marine otter really does backfloat, or if that is just a legend.

The marine otters live on the rocky coasts, feeding on shellfish in kelp beds of Peru and Chile, sometime they swim into rivers to eat freshwater shrimp, and are quite rare, they have a very coarse fur (unlike the sea otter). Does anyone here dive in those cold coastal waters, or have personal experience or photos with backfloating marine otters? I'm studying back-floating and back-stroking aquatic animals, I found photos of polar bear, seal, sea otter (and people) doing back-stroke and back-float. Thanks much!

DDeden

 

[trux]

I guess this may be rather a sea otter and not really a marine otter, but at the picture on the original website, there is no description, and just keywords "sea aquarium marine otter", so I do not know for sure. You'll probably recognize it better:

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[trux]

There are some other pictures on the web too, claiming they are those of marine otter. Simply put the name into the Google picture search and you'll have several pages of results, including several ones floating on the back. Be sure to try also other languages than just English. For example there is a nice marine otter picture in WikiPedia, when you enter the French name "loutre marine". Again - I am not able to tell you if it is really a marine otter, but hope it is.

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Or this one with a baby, from WikiPedia too:

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Another picture from http://www.sjsu.edu

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And there are many others, when you use the Spanish or Latin names. Especially in Spanish, there is a lot of common names for the marine otter. Check all those diverse names here: http://www.otterjoy.co.uk/otterinfo/lontra/felina/felina_classification.html

On that site they also claim it swims on back and carries objects on the belly:

Objects, such as prey or cubs, are carried either in the mouth or, in water, the otter may roll on its back and carry the item on its belly.

Another nice website about marine otters is this one:
http://www.chinchimen.terra.cl/

 

[wet]

Those are great photos! I'm thinking they are all sea otters (north, Enhydra lutra).

I finally found a marine otter (south, Lontra felina) back-floating, eating a crab, here at this site:
"Lontra felina" (the photo title is incorrect, it's not a sea otter, but a marine otter)

Compared to a sea otter (north, Enhydra lutra) back-floating eating a crab:
http://www.photodiary.org/large/e_6703.jpg

Both feed on shellfish etc. but marine otters also eat freshwater shrimp and fruit sometimes.

When I saw the marine otter pic, I thought it was a sea otter, but the face is
different. Alaskan Sea otters have more snubby (rounded) faces with lighter
tones, Chilean Marine otters have darker more pointy faces.

It's not so easy to distinguish them when they are 1/2 wet 1/2 dry.
The sea otter sleeps in the water backfloating wrapped with kelp seaweed to keep it in place all night, the marine otter sleeps in a rocky den onshore.
I was starting to think it was just a legend...

DDeden

 

[Shadowkiller]

uhh. Can we please use scientific names? Sea and Marine mean the same thing...

 

[trux]

uhh. Can we please use scientific names? Sea and Marine mean the same thing...

Well, the problem is that there are many of them too, so it may be also confusing. For marine otter (Sea Cat):

According to Harris (1968), the species was first described as Mustela felina by Mollina in 1782, but was assigned to Lutra chilensis by Bennett (1832) before becoming L. californica (Grey, 1837), L. peruviensis (Gervais, 1841), L. cinerea (Thomas, 1908) and L. peruensis (Pohle, 1920) before settling down as Lutra felina.

The sea otter should be Enhydra lutris in Latin.

 

[island_sands]

Also if you watch the Blue Planet (my favourite next to erotic Spanish films rofl ) you can see some very cute sea otter footage :inlove

 

[wet]

uhh. Can we please use scientific names? Sea and Marine mean the same thing...

Yeah, like Trux said, there's been lots of names, both common and scientific.

This site seems clear, and recently dated:
http://www.otterjoy.co.uk/otterclass.html

Sea otter: Enhydra lutris
Marine otter (sea cat): Lontra felina

I was surprised to note that the giant amazon otter is so different from the other otters, I thought it was just a big river otter, though I've heard it hunts in packs like wolves.

 

[wet]

Also if you watch the Blue Planet (my favourite next to erotic Spanish films rofl ) you can see some very cute sea otter footage :inlove

Yeah, the little ones look just like free-diving teddy bears!

 

[island_sands]

dont they? just too cute for words, although I bet they could give you a nice nip.

 

[wet]

I haven't heard of a sea otter attacking anything except crabs, sea urchins and shellfish, but maybe the momma might bite if the pup was endangered.

During "courtship", the male gets a good grip on the female while in the water by nipping her nose, (keeps her quiet too), sort of a love bite. Oh well, the scars of love...:chatup

http://www.elkhornslough.org/journal/030518journal.htm

DDeden

 

[samdive]

I am going to be a sea otter in my next life.

(not because of the nipping on the nose thing, just something I decided years ago when I first saw the cute, and amazingly aquatic little darlings)

 

[wet]

Sea otter article: the dark side of sea otters

Seamy side of sea otter life - 19 February 1994 - New Scientist Space

 

[miles]

Photo taken taken at my local boat ramp

 

[sheepeck]

Oooh - otters!!
My favourite animals.
The article is interesting.
I prefer those European or inland (Lutra lutra) though - they look more cute I think and it seems that they are more tender.

 

[sheepeck]

I didn't manage to upload those yesterday so now - here they are, cutties. :inlove