Diet

Sea otters are ravenous eaters because they have to get enough calories to help them stay warm in their cold environment.  In fact sea otters may eat up to 25% of their body weight in food a day!  But what types of food do wild otters like best?

Sea otter researchers have found that the following food items are the most frequently eaten by wild sea otters but that is only half the story.  It turns out that some individuals are generalists meaning they like to eat many kinds of prey while others are specialists, meaning they are picky eaters!  It turns out that these food preferences actually can have a big impact on how frequently an individual sea otter has to spend looking for food.  Below you will find images of wild sea otters eating many different kinds of prey including clams, crabs, fat innkeeper worms, and even sea stars!  Can you identify the individual prey items in the image?