Abalones may owe their huge size to otters « The Otter Project
Fossil evidence shows that otters have long lived along the coast and eaten the biggest and best of the abalone. Otters today take stones and pound on the underwater abalones until the shell margins break, then pry the abalones off the rocks with their paws.
Abalone, Otters, and Indigenous Peoples - International Marine …
Feb 2, 2022 · Native species like abalone and sea otters that have thrived in California’s oceans for thousands of years are threatened by our current resource management systems of exploitation and profit that were built upon colonial ideals.
On Second Chances: The Southern Sea Otter’s Return to …
Jul 28, 2022 · Researchers have proposed that sea otters and their evolutionary progenitors could be indirectly responsible for evolution of the unusually large body sizes of the abalone species in the North Pacific Ocean.
An In-Depth Look at Abalone: Part I - Reef Check
Dec 23, 2014 · Sea otters are important abalone predators in areas where they overlap. Historical sea otter distributions overlapped with abalone populations along the entire California coast.
biology of the southern sea otter
Abalone numbers are often high within the sea otters range. However, abalones are restricted to deep crevices, out of reach of otter and human harvesters. Sea otters are also known as an “indicator” species for the health of the nearshore marine ecosystem.
Ways of Knowing Abalone | abalone
(Other) Ways of Knowing Abalone (and Sea Otters) in Sitka, Alaska. Local and Indigenous knowledge with quantitative information on abalone, sea otter populations, and harvest to understand key trends of current, historical, and future populations.
Meet the Sea Otters: Species, Habitat, and Behaviors
Sep 25, 2023 · Dietary Preferences – When it comes to the sea otter’s diet, these animals are primarily carnivorous, feeding on a variety of marine invertebrates such as sea urchins, abalone, clams, crabs, mussels, sea stars, and fat innkeeper worms.
Abalones Along Pacific Coast May Owe Their Huge, Dinner-plate …
Nov 15, 2005 · California sea otters are maligned for their ruthless pursuit of large abalones prized by divers. But a new study suggests that otters are partly responsible for the size of these abalones,...
Sea otter - Wikipedia
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 (30 and 100 lb), making them the heaviest members of the weasel family, but …
The far-reaching influence of Alaska's sea otters - BBC
Mar 1, 2023 · Sixty years ago, you would have been lucky to spot a sea otter in Alaska. Like whales, bison, and beavers, they were exploited to within a hair's breadth of extinction by colonial powers and the...