Sea Otter

The sea otter, the smallest marine mammal, is native to the American and Asian shores of the North Pacific Ocean. It feeds mainly on mollusks and sea urchins, which it crushes with its large, blunt teeth. The otter also regularly uses rocks to open shellfish while swimming on its back. Swimming underwater, however, is no problem, as it can stay underwater for as long as six minutes. The brown inner fur of the otter is soft, dense, and woolly; overlaid by coarser and longer gray-tipped hairs of outer fur; and highly prized among humans. Once abundant, sea otters were hunted almost to extinction during the first half of the 20th century. Protective measures increased their numbers along the coasts of California and Alaska