Translation 2783

u.'he
• 158
diet of. Kurile sea.otters consists mostly of sea-urchins,
- shelled molluscs, mussels, octopuses, Atelecyclidae and rugose crabs,
and -..a.mong fishes -- lurapsuckers. A-secondary place is occupied
by 8ea of Okhotsk Idotheidae and a number of other crustaceans, mol-
luscs,and fishes. Brown. and calcareous algae and J ..ryozoa are accidentally
swallowed along with food.
Data cOmPiled by Japanese
inVeStigators on the basis of examination of the stomachs of a large
number'of f.urile sea otters add the following to the diet list: '
ascidians, pink scallops, and octopuses, and (umon( fishes) ALka
mackerel and rock perch. Differences have been found in the diet,
composition depending on the area in which the sea otters live; thus
on the 'Pacific side the predominant food items are crustaceans (crabs,
shrimps, and Idotheidae) and molluscs; on the Sea of Okhotsk side,
sea-urchins and molluscs. e,easonal variations in the diet of Aurile
sea otters have also bee observed: in spring luMpsuckers predominate, -
and in summer crabs, various species of gastropods and bivalves, and
sea-urchins.
Aleutian-Alaskan . population of 'sea otters Leeds mainly on
sea-urchins and molluscs, and to a lesser extent on fishes (Land eels
and staghorn sculpins), which,they eat more in winter and spring when
other food items are scarce, u'hey also eat crabs, and casually-
swallowed objects include insects,.earthworms, algae, and. eel-grass.
The sea otters of the Californian coast feed mainl‘r on large sea-
,
urchins, gastropods and bivalves, musselb, and some. species of crabs. 107
Of less importance are Ophiuroidea, Loricata, starfishes, lobsters,
octopuses, and fishes.
.
boa otters procure food fro.a shallow sublittoral waters,
on sand-bars and shoals, and near beds of seaweed. 'usually they can
stay under water not more than taree minutes, and the greatesl depth
to which they can dive is.about 90. metres. At one dive a sea otter
can 17rasp as many as ten sea-urchins a -hd place them within folds of
•
.itr3 skin. IL eats them one by one, breakiLg the shell and sucking •
out the contents; it breaks tae shell of a lare se-urchin or of a
oMy
mollusc against a stone; it eats i\ the tastiest pieces of lare fishes.
bO:dO investigators surmise that Liu exte:ae age attained by
sea .otters is not more than 12 years. Tile causes, and still more the
e:•teht, of :lorLnlity.a.lorg the_o ani:.ials have noL yut'buen fully .
It 15 kudwn that in thu Aleutian . populaLion on annual
C.iscovered