Eric Viet ngo. Sea otters floating in kelp. However, with the decline in sea otter populations, bald eagles have to turn to marine fish. 4. What do sea urchins like to eat? The damage can sever kelp from its roots and cut the kelp off from ocean sediment nutrients. By controlling the size and number of sea urchins (sea urchins are one of their favorite foods, and they eat the larger ones first), sea otters created the opportunity for kelp to grow and flourish, which in turn created habitat for numerous other kelp forest dwellers. In general, there are two possibilities. Kelp. They use kelp to crack open the shells. They are like underwater forest made out of giant kelp, and sustaining hundreds of different organisms such as; kelp, abalone, crustaceans, urchins, harbor seals, and also sea otters. And they love sea urchins, which eat kelp. The degree of influence that otters have depends on where the carbon ultimately ends up. Sea Otters eat sea urchins that kill many kelp forest. The sea otter eats sea urchins which if there is a large population makes the kelp endangered. By keeping the urchin population low, it keeps the kelp populations healthy. Sea otters protect kelp forests off Northern California by eating herbivores such as sea urchins that graze on the kelp. When otters are present, they control Sea urchin populations. For hungry Asian small-clawed otters at Smithsonian's National Zoo, variety is the spice of life. 8 Top Predators of Sea Otters that Eat Sea Otter. However, southern sea otters are picky eaters — they like to eat mostly turban snails and, indeed, they get infected with Toxo by eating these organisms. Photograph: Frans Lanting/Getty Images. They wrap the kelp around themselves before falling asleep. During a dive, the sea otter collects and stores the food in the loose skin flaps of its armpit. How do sea otters break open the shells of animals they like to eat? They use the deep cover as protection from predators. Without sea otters, sea urchins can overpopulate the sea floor and devour the kelp forests that provide cover and food for many other marine animals. The sea otter and kelp also have a mutualistic relationship. They will probably be wrapped in kelp beds. Sea otters can be found close to certain seas near Alaska, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and the country of Russia. Similarly, the otters play much the same role in estuaries, except here they benefit the seagrass beds where baby fish hide and older ones forage. Sea otters inherit in the shallow coastal areas and prefer the places with kelp. If sea otters are not present, then urchin populations boom, which leads to overgrazing — killing all the kelp — and creating a wasteland known as an urchin barren. How do sea otters use kelp? Southern sea otters live in giant kelp forests along the California coast. They use the kelp to clean off their fur. The kelp helps the sea otters to wrap themselves in when they are resting. Once again it comes down to the otters’ tremendous appetites, this time for crabs. Sea Otters get the parasite from Sea Lions or Seals. Once the kelp dies it floats up and provides the sea otter with a source of food. However, otters differ from similar species like beavers, muskrats, and nutria that feed on plants. They eat the kelp plants. Healthy kelp forests are a very good thing. The reason for this is because sea otters eat sea urchins and sea urchins eat kelp. A feeding dive usually lasts from less than a minute to as long as 5 minutes or more. An otter, weighing about 65 pounds, will eat more than will one of the 500-pound sea lions at the Aquarium. Parasitism. 9 years ago. They use rocks to crack open the shells. Thank you for your help! Kelp forests are important to today's oceans, and they depend on the organisms … The sea otter is an important part of both of these habitats — It’s a keystone species, which means that the health of sea otters is a good indication of the health of other species and ecosystems nearby. The Sea Otters are not harmed nor helped, so the fish benefit. Contrary to popular opinion sea otters rarely eat starfish,and any kelp that is consumed apparently passes through the sea otter's system undigested. 10. Sea otters are the keystone species of the kelp ecosystem, as well as having a mutualistic relationship with the kelp itself. Otters are meat eaters. Sea otters do not eat kelp but they do live in the kelp forests. Within these seas, they are usually found in the vicinity of the shore (which is typically rocky). The sea otter ecosystem is largely made up of thick kelp forests. Within these forests, sea otters prey on sea urchins, which graze heavily on kelp. Without the sea otters, in fact, the kelp ecosystem would struggle, probabaly even die. In turn, the kelp forests provide food and cover for many other species of animals, and kelp forests play an important role in capturing carbon and reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. For the study area, the value of sea otters in maintaining carbon-storing kelp forests is anywhere from about $200 million to more than $400 million. Since both organisms are benefitting this is an example of mutualism. 11. ouch, that hurts! They use the deep cover as protection from predators. Just because urchins are available, doesn’t mean otters will eat them. When the otters were extirpated, the sea urchins took over and decimated the kelp forest. How do sea otters stay warm in the cold water? The carbon is initially trapped in a one-off mechanism by the kelp in its tissues. They use rocks to crack open the shells while they lie flat on the ocean, maybe floating on seaweed or some kelp. Otters are very active feeders. They need to eat a lot of food, nearly 25% of their weight every day and so they can eat a lot of urchins. Sea Otters in the Kelp Forest The kelp forest is among the most biologically productive marine habitat known to Earth today. Sea otters eat 25% of their body weight a day. Sea Otters can receive a deadly brain disease. - They kind of hold the whole food chain in order. audio series. However, these … 3. Sea otters are another predator of urchins in the kelp forests. By maintaining healthy kelp forests, sea otters also indirectly help to reduce levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, a prevalent greenhouse gas, as kelp absorbs and sequesters carbon. This is the fourth installment of the Botanize! These small urchins also readily devour kelp, and if their numbers swell, they begin to thin out kelp forests. This disease is called Toxoplasma gondii, and it is in the sea now! ... Bald eagles’ diet was once predominantly sea otter pups and kelp forest fish. In the kelp forest, it eats sea urchins and other animals that graze on giant kelp. parasitism . A Mammal With Thickest Fur: Sea otters are the mammals with the thickest fur, with an estimated one million hair per square inch. In response, bald eagles have had to adjust their foraging tactics and look for prey elsewhere. Abalone, prized sea snails that also eat kelp, are meanwhile starving in droves, and eventually, rockfishes, which use kelp canopies as nursery habitat, may begin to vanish from the environment, warns Catton. The sea urchins destroy these underwater kelp beds and so, if the sea otters do not prey on them, they would damage these ecosystems. They help kelp forests to flourish by keeping sea urchin numbers under control. Sea lions are another major predator of sea otters. Source(s): wikipedia.org. Sea otters do an excellent job of eating large sea urchins over eight centimetres in diameter, but they tend to leave behind smaller urchins. What Do Otters Eat Regularly? While sea otters could alleviate grazing pressure on Oregon’s bull kelp, this idea only looks at the issue from a top-down, not bottom-up, perspective. Sea otters eat mussels found on the seabed. 0 0. Otters' big appetites protect kelp forests by eating sea urchins. Sea otters can eat up to 25% of their body weight each day. In order to capture food, sea otters dive to the bottom in 5 to 250 feet (1.5 to 75 meters) of water. In the Monterey Bay, the sea otter lives in kelp forest and estuary habitats. Many of the species they eat, like Dungeness crab, are prized by commercial fishermen. As aquatic mammals, otters spend most of their time in the water. Sea otters do not eat kelp but they do live in the kelp forests. Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that they indulge in food that can be found in and around rivers. Without sea otters, the urchin population booms and destroys the kelp forest habitat. By chowing down on these invertebrates, sea otters keep them from denuding kelp forests. Sea otters require a lot of food (Costa 1978, Reidman & Estes 1990), and what they eat will always be a function of prey availability and quality (Ostfeld 1982). Without the sea otters to keep them in check, urchins and other grazing invertebrates can turn flourishing kelp forests into underwater wastelands called urchin barrens. Otters eat up to 30 percent of their body weight each day, and when they prey on lots of shellfish and urchins, kelp forests can regrow and give salmon and rockfish and others a place to stay. Melissa Petruzzello of Encyclopædia Britannica and Kyle Shanebeck of the University of Alberta discuss the relationship between sea otters and the health of giant kelp forests and eelgrass meadows. Sea Lions. Sea otters mainly eat sea urchins, crabs, clams, mussels, octopus, other marine invertebrates, and fish. Sea urchins pose a humongous threat to kelp forests because they multiply quickly and eat at the holdfasts (roots) of kelp forests, feeding on the kelp frond where it attaches to the ocean floor. Sea urchins love to eat kelp and chew it off at the bottom of the stock killing it completely. 4. A caretaker explains what items are on a typical menu. By eating sea urchins, the sea otter helps in conserving the kelp forests, one of the world’s most productive ecosystems. - Kelp and sea otters go together. Their fur resides of two layers- an undercoat and longer guard hair. They use a can opener. No forest means no home for the fish. One key problem is that the kelp cannot grow back, since the carpet of urchins effectively acts like a herd of goats in a dusty pen, completely subduing any growth of … Graze heavily on kelp under control to turn to marine fish will one of the shore ( which is rocky. And cut the kelp dies it floats up and provides the sea took. 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