Marine Species under Threat: Sea Otters

Mother sea otter with rare twin baby pups

The sea otter (Enhydra lutris) is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. Adult sea otters typically weigh between 14 and 45 kg (31 and 99 lb), making them the heaviest members of the weasel family, but among the smallest marine mammals.

The heaviest members of the weasel family, sea otters are also the second smallest marine mammals. Unlike other marine mammals, they do not have a layer of blubber to help them keep warm.

These animals do nearly everything in the water, including giving birth and sleeping. Fur hunters once pushed sea otters to the brink of extinction and a century ago only 1,000 to 2,000 individuals remained. Today the otters are protected, and their numbers have swelled to perhaps 150,000.

Sea otters spend much of their lives in the water and can dive up to 330 feet when foraging for food. They sometimes rest in coastal kelp forests, often draping the kelp over their bodies to keep from drifting away.

Sea otters live in shallow coastal waters off the northern Pacific. Their historic range stretched from Japan, along the coast of Siberia and the Aleutian Chain and down the Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and California coast to Baja California.