Diet
Because sea otters live underwater, diverse marine species are provided for them. Sea otters are omnivores, so they enjoy both slow moving fish, specifically marine invertabrates, as well as diverse plants. This includes; crabs, sea urchins, abalones, clams, mussels, squid, sea stars, and snails. Food preference varies, so not all sea otters eat this. Sea otters tend to eat alot, and often as well. This is because they have a high metabolic rate, causing them to digest food fast, resulting in needing more nutrition for energy. They eat 25 to 30 percent of their total body weight, which is why they need a substantial amount of food to obtain energy.
Sea Urchins
Abalones
The sea otter's food supply is held beneath their natural habitat, the ocean surface. They get their food by diving down to the ocean floor, although sea otters live in shallow waters, so this task is quite easy to accomplish. They retrieve their food by catching their prey with their forepaws, and bring it to the surface. Certain foods need a little more elbow grease to capture and kill. Abalones, for example, are repeatedly hit by a rock to shatter the shell of crustaceans and molluscs.
If Sea Otters Were Removed From the Food Chain
Sea otters play a very critical role in food webs. This species is a secondary, tertiary, etc. consumer. Without sea otters, it would negatively affect multiple innocent lives. Removing this animals would began to have a huge impact on great white sharks, killer whales, sea lions, coyotes, bears, and eagles. This is because each of these animals feed on sea otters. Some more than others, as it is their number one preferred meal, mainly great white sharks and killer whales. If no more sea otters were to lurk around, these animals would feast on other mammals to replace their meal. Great white sharks and killer whales, for example, would eat more of sea lions. This would cause competition for resources between the species, causing an even more decrease in the sealion's population, as it is already declining from the lack of sea otters. Sea lions are carnivores that love to consume diverse species of fish. This includes; herring, mackerel, pompano, salmon, capelin, and occasionally squid. With sea lions decreasing immensely, it's main prey would over populate. This would inforce even more competition for resources between the species. Certain species are primary consumers, such as herring and capelin. A large portion of their food intake is plankton, a primary producer in the ocean biome. Other marine animals that feed on this plant are; jellyfishes, shrimp, blue whales, and more. With plankton decreasing, multiple animals will have a negative impact, meaning frequent events of death. .
Plankton
After learning about how the sea otter's predators and so on are affected, it doesn't stop there. Animals below the Enhydra Lutris will also be extremely impacted. Especially their prey. This includes, as we know; crabs, sea urchins, abalones, clams, mussels, squid, sea stars, and snails. Each of these species would overpopulate extremely, especially the sea otter's main prey; sea urchins and abalones. The sea urchins preferred food (algae, fish, barnacles) would decrease immensely, not to mention be devoured by other species as well such as; frogs, crayfish, amoebas, paramecium, welks, sea stars, limpets, and more. This list could go on forever, as so many marvelous species are affected in this process. Because of the decrease in the sea urchins food, it would cause competition for resource between all of these species, resulting in not enough nutrition, and ultimately death. But the catastrophes don't stop their. Abalones are another example of the sea otter's preferred food. If no sea otters were to eat them, they would eventually overpopulated. Abalones favourite meal is another primary producer; algae. There are various types of algae abalones feast on including; giant kelp, bull kelp, feather boa kelp and elk kelp. Each of these kelps will be negatively affected, as too many abalones will be relying on them to get their nutrients. As previously mentioned, sea urchins also eat a large amount of algae. This means, not only are they overpopulating because their main predator cease to exist, but they are now competing for the same source of food. Each of them would ultimately decrease, causing their other predators ( crabs, wolf eels, lobsters, octopuses) to declineas well! The message is; if sea otters are removed from the food chain, many vile deaths would occur over several diverse marine species.
Sea Otter Food Web
