Join me in the cold, dark, life-sustaining NE Pacific Ocean to discover the great beauty, mystery and fragility hidden there.

Posts from the ‘Otter’ category

Who Goes There? Sea Otter feeding pits

Who goes there?!
Or should that be – who DIGS there?!

This is the pit resulting from a Sea Otter digging after a Pacific Geoduck – a very large, very long-lived clam species.

Dive buddy Natasha Dickinson posing beside the pit to give you a better indication of its size.
Photo: January 1st, 2025, ©Jackie Hildering.

If you see a Sea Otter going up and down in the same location without coming up with prey the first time (and breaking it open on their belly), this is likely what is happening.

Sea Otter with a Pacific Geoduck.
Photo: March 27, 2021, ©Jackie Hildering.

Geoducks have very long siphons (neck or shaft) and can be buried 1 metre below the surface. So it’s quite the endeavour when Sea Otters excavate Geoducks. My photo of the deep pit should aid in understanding why this is the case!

Pacific Geoduck (Panopea generosa) – World’s largest burrowing clam. Can live to ~160 years.
Source: Goode G. B. (1880). The Fisheries and Fisheries Industries of the United States via Wikimedia Commons.
Pacific Geoduck ©Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Sea Otters are reported to be able to dive up to 5 minutes (more often ~1 minute) but that’s unlikely when exerting themselves when digging like this.

Did the Sea Otter get this Geoduck? We don’t know for sure but there was an empty shell of a Geoduck near the pit.

Note that we did not dive in the presence of Sea Otters. Diving or swimming with marine mammals is illegal in Canada.

Geoduck shell near Sea Otter feeding pit.
Photo: April 20, 2019, ©Jackie Hildering.
Another Sea Otter feeding pit and dive buddy Natasha Dickinson.
Photo: January 9, 2021 ©Jackie Hildering

Background on Sea Otters in British Columbia

Sea Otters were completely wiped out (extirpated) with the last verified Sea Otter in Canada having been shot in 1929 near Kyuquot (NW Vancouver Island).

There are now over 8,100 Sea Otters off the coast of BC (Nichol et al. 2020). How did that happen? Around 89 Sea Otters were translocated to the outer coast of Vancouver Island from 1969 to 1972 (as a mitigation measure for nuclear testing in Alaska).

The population grew (and spread out) from there. And yes, they eat a lot. Even with their incredibly dense fur (which made them so “desirable” in the fur trade), they need to fuel their furnace by eating up to 1/4 of their body mass daily to survive in the cold ocean.

More Sea Otters = more kelp forests (since they eat the urchins that eat the kelp) = more habitat, more oxygen, more food, and more carbon sequestration.

Sea Otters are recognized as a species of Special Concern in Canada.

More Information

Sea Otters
– CBC, To oblivion and back – How sea otters are radically changing the West Coast ecosystem 50 years after their return to B.C.
– Nichol, L.M., Doniol-Valcroze, T., Watson J.C., and Foster, E.U. 2020. Trends in growth of the
sea otter (Enhydra lutris) population in British Columbia 1977 to 2017. DFO Can. Sci. Advis.
Sec. Res. Doc. 2020/039. vii + 29 p.

Pacific Geoduck
– DFO, Geoduck clam
– IFLScience, What Is a Geoduck? The Ocean’s Giant Burrowing Clam
– iNaturalist.ca, Pacific Geoduck

You Otter Know!

If I had a dollar for every time I have had a conversation like the following:

Enthusiastic otter viewer: I saw a Sea Otter on the dock! 

Me: How wonderful but . . .  it wasn’t a Sea Otter. 

Otter viewer: Yes it was, it came out of the ocean and was running on the dock. 

Me: Isn’t that wonderful but  . . .  that was a River Otter NOT a Sea Otter. River Otters live in the sea too. It’s really unfortunate that their common name is “River Otter”. It confuses people. Sea Otters can’t run. They are adapted to be in the ocean so their hind limbs are like paddles and, since they so rarely are on land, their front paws are adapted to be really dexterous and use tools. 

Otter viewer: But it was in the sea!!!!

Ah yes, how I would like to find whoever was responsible for the common name “River Otter”. 

Click the image below to enlarge a table of some of the key differences between River Otters and Sea Otters. The otter illustrations are by Uko Gorter Natural History Illustrations. 

Sea Otter vs. River Otter

What has stimulated my sharing this with you is that, this year, we have the great privilege of having a mother River Otter and her six pups delighting us in Telegraph Cove, B.C. Today, I had the chance to get some photos of them.  Below, see some of these images, including a little slide show. 

Yes, they are otterly adorable even though they add colour and odour to my days by pooping on the lines of my boat and leaving bits of fish for me to slip on . . . as well as stimulating all those “I saw a Sea Otter” conversations!

Mama River Otter and most of her brood of six. Photo: Hildering.

Crazy cute I know. Also, note the deposit under the head of the River Otter. These gifts are abundant and usually on the lines of my boat 😉 . Photo:Hildering

One of the River Otter pups shaking off some SEA water. Photo: Hildering

Mama River Otter jumping back into the ocean. Note her reflection in the water. Photo: Hildering.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.