The marine otter (''Lontra felina'') is a rare and relatively unknown

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

n mammal of the weasel family (

Mustelidae The Mustelidae (; from Latin ''mustela'', weasel) are a family of carnivorous mammals, including weasels, badgers, otters, ferrets, martens, minks and wolverines, among others. Mustelids () are a diverse group and form the largest family in th ...

). The scientific name means "otter cat", and in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, the marine otter is also often referred to as : "marine cat". The marine otter (while spending much of its time out of the water) only lives in saltwater, coastal environments and rarely ventures into freshwater or estuarine habitats. This saltwater exclusivity is unlike most other otter species, except for the almost fully aquatic sea otter (''Enhydra lutris'') of the North Pacific.

Description

The marine otter is one of the smallest otters and the smallest marine mammal, measuring from the nose to the tip of the tail and weighs . The tail measures . Its fur is coarse, with

guard hair Guard hair or overhair is the outer layer of hair of most mammals, which overlay the fur. Guard hairs are long and coarse and protect the rest of the pelage (fur) from abrasion and frequently from moisture. They are visible on the surface of the fu ...

s measuring up to in length covering dense, insulating

underfur Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket ...

. The marine otter is dark brown above and on the sides, and fawn on the throat and underside. The marine otter has

webbed ''Webbed'' is a 2D adventure puzzle platform game developed and published by Australian, Brisbane-based studio Sbug Games. A physics-based game set in a fantasy version of Queensland, players control a peacock spider whose goal is to rescue ...

paw A paw is the soft foot-like part of a mammal, generally a quadruped, that has claws. Common characteristics The paw is characterised by thin, pigmented, keratinised, hairless epidermis covering subcutaneous collagenous and adipose tissue, ...

s and strong

claw A claw is a curved, pointed appendage found at the end of a toe or finger in most amniotes (mammals, reptiles, birds). Some invertebrates such as beetles and spiders have somewhat similar fine, hooked structures at the end of the leg or tarsus ...

s. The ventral side (underside) of the paws are partially covered in fur. It has 36

teeth A tooth ( : teeth) is a hard, calcified structure found in the jaws (or mouths) of many vertebrates and used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores and omnivores, also use teeth to help with capturing or wounding prey, t ...

and a

dental formula Dentition pertains to the development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth. In particular, it is the characteristic arrangement, kind, and number of teeth in a given species at a given age. That is, the number, type, and morpho-physiolog ...

of . The teeth are developed for slicing instead of crushing. The marine otter does not display

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most an ...

Distribution and habitat

Marine otters are found in

littoral The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal a ...

areas of southwestern South America, close to shore and in the

intertidal The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species ...

areas of northern

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

(from the port of

Chimbote Chimbote ; qu, Chimputi) is the largest city in the Ancash Region of Peru, and the capital of both Santa Province and Chimbote District. The city is located on the coast in Ferrol Bay, 130 km south of Trujillo and north of Lima on the ...

), along the entire coast of

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, and the extreme southern reaches of

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. Occasional vagrant sightings still occur as far afield as the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouze ...

. The marine otter mainly inhabits rocky shorelines with abundant seaweed and

kelp Kelps are large brown algae seaweeds that make up the order Laminariales. There are about 30 different genera. Despite its appearance, kelp is not a plant - it is a heterokont, a completely unrelated group of organisms. Kelp grows in "underwa ...

, and infrequently visits estuaries and freshwater rivers. It appears to select habitats with surprisingly high exposure to strong swells and winds, unlike many other otters, which prefer calmer waters. Caves and crevices in the rocky shorelines may provide them with the cover they need, and often a holt will have no land access at high tide. Marine otters avoid sandy beaches.

Behavior

Chungungos, Reserva nacional Pingüino de Humboldt

Rocky intertidal zones with natural crevices are ideal for marine otter dens and feeding areas. Because most of their time is spent hidden in caves, their behavior is difficult to observe. Marine otters actively avoid humans. In response to human activity, they will spend less time on coasts and stray from their dens during the day to fissures inaccessible to humans. Though generally avoidant of humans, their inhabitance of fishing villages is an indicator of the marine otter's ability to adapt to urbanization.

Reproduction

Marine otters may be monogamous or polygamous, and breeding occurs in December or January. Litters of two to five pups are born in January, February or March after a gestation period of 60 to 70 days. The pups remain with their mother for about 10 months of parental care, and can sometimes be seen on the mother's belly as she swims on her back, a practice similar to that of the sea otter. Parents bring food to the pups and teach them to hunt.

Feeding

Studies have shown latitudinal variations in diet, feeding periods, and dive time throughout the marine otter's distribution. Marine otters of southern Chile primarily feed on

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

, while those in northern Chile mostly feed on

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...

s and mollusks. The otters on Isla La Vieja,

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

presumably prey on a colony of Peruvian diving petrels regularly.Valqui, Juan (2012-03).
The marine otter Lontra felina (Molina, 1782): A review of its present status and implications for future conservation
. Mammalian Biology. 77 (2): 75–83. doi:10.1016/j.mambio.2011.08.004. ISSN 1616-5047. In January 2009, one was seen preying on magellanic flightless steamer duck chick in Puñihuil. The species shows

opportunistic Opportunism is the practice of taking advantage of circumstances – with little regard for principles or with what the consequences are for others. Opportunist actions are expedient actions guided primarily by self-interested motives. The term ...

feeding behavior, sometimes eating small mammals and even fruit of plants like '' Greigia sphacelata'' and '' Fascicularia bicolor.''

Taxonomy

The marine otter is of the lutrinae, a subfamily of mustelidae. Its exact

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

has been debated due to lack of data. A phylogenetic study by C. G. Van Zyll De Jong in 1987 proposed the following phenogram of the lutrinae, based on morphological data. Jong's proposed phenogram implied that the marine otter descended from the Asian small-clawed otter, and its closest relative being the

North American river otter The North American river otter (''Lontra canadensis''), also known as the northern river otter and river otter, is a semiaquatic mammal that only lives on the North American continent, along its waterways and coasts. An adult North American rive ...

. A 2004 study contradicted Jong's research. The following was proposed as a part of the taxonomy of the Mustelidae, based on cytochrome ''b'' sequences.

Threats

Human activity on coastlines poses disturbance to marine otters. Humans introduce domestic animals which may also disturb their dens. Humans, as well as domesticated species, may expose a marine otter population to disease. Marine otters may be entangled in fishing nets and die.

Microplastics Microplastics are fragments of any type of plastic less than in length, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the European Chemicals Agency. They cause pollution by entering natural ecosystems from a v ...

have been found in the scat of marine otters. The effects of microplastics in marine mammals are still unclear.

Competition and predation

Gulls Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari (bird), Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and Skimmer (bird), skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders ...

and South American sea lions may compete with marine otters for prey, the latter known to also attack the otters.

Orcas The orca or killer whale (''Orcinus orca'') is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Orcinus'' and is recognizable by its black-and-white pat ...

and sharks allegedly prey on the otters, though direct attacks have not been observed.

Parasites

Marine otters are known to be susceptible to ''

Toxoplasma gondii ''Toxoplasma gondii'' () is an obligate intracellular parasitic protozoan (specifically an apicomplexan) that causes toxoplasmosis. Found worldwide, ''T. gondii'' is capable of infecting virtually all warm-blooded animals, but felids, such as d ...

'' infection along the northern and central coast of

, though ''T. gondii''

seroprevalence Seroprevalence is the number of persons in a population who test positive for a specific disease based on serology (blood serum) specimens; often presented as a percent of the total specimens tested or as a proportion per 100,000 persons tested. As ...

in this otter species is lower than in other aquatic

mustelids The Mustelidae (; from Latin ''mustela'', weasel) are a family of carnivorous mammals, including weasels, badgers, otters, ferrets, martens, minks and wolverines, among others. Mustelids () are a diverse group and form the largest famil ...

such as the southern river otter and

American mink The American mink (''Neogale vison'') is a semiaquatic species of mustelid native to North America, though human intervention has expanded its range to many parts of Europe, Asia and South America. Because of range expansion, the American mink i ...

in southern Chile, likely because of the general dryness of the former environment.

Nematodes The nematodes ( or grc-gre, Νηματώδη; la, Nematoda) or roundworms constitute the phylum Nematoda (also called Nemathelminthes), with plant-parasitic nematodes also known as eelworms. They are a diverse animal phylum inhabiting a broa ...

and acantocephalans are also known endoparasites of this species.

Conservation status

Marine otters are rare and are protected under Peruvian, Chilean, and Argentine law. In the past, they were extensively hunted both for their fur and due to perceived competition with fisheries. Hunting extirpated them from most of

and the

. Poaching is still a problem, but one of unknown magnitude. It is unknown how many marine otters exist in the wild or what habitats should be preserved to encourage their recovery. Marine otters were listed under

CITES CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of interna ...

Appendix I in 1976, and are listed as endangered by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

References

External links

* *
International Otter Survival Fund
{{Taxonbar, from=Q644224

marine otter The marine otter (''Lontra felina'') is a rare and relatively unknown South American mammal of the weasel family ( Mustelidae). The scientific name means "otter cat", and in Spanish, the marine otter is also often referred to as : "marine c ...

Marine mammals Mammals of Argentina Mammals of Chile Fauna_of_the_Falkland_Islands Carnivorans of South America Marine fauna of South America Western South American coastal fauna Endangered animals Endangered biota of South America Mammals described in 1782