Sea otters maintain the balance of kelp forest ecosystems by controlling populations of sea urchins, which are voracious kelp grazers. Since 2014, however, California's kelp forests have declined ...

A healthy forest of giant kelp, in Monterey Bay. (Photo by Michael Langhans) In this urchin barren in Monterey Bay, grazing by purple sea urchins has removed kelp and other algae from the rocky reef. ...

Despite recent efforts by sea urchin harvesters to reduce protections for southern sea otters under the Endangered Species Act, the species is still at risk, federal officials say. The fuzzy ...

Sea otters maintain the balance of kelp forest ecosystems by controlling populations of sea urchins, which are voracious kelp grazers. Since 2014, however, California's kelp forests have declined ...

Despite recent efforts by sea urchin harvesters to reduce protections for southern sea otters under the Endangered Species Act, the species is still at risk, federal officials say. The fuzzy ...

Despite recent efforts by sea urchin harvesters to reduce protections for southern sea otters under the Endangered Species Act, the species is still at risk, federal officials say. The fuzzy ...

Petition to delist southern sea otters filed by sea urchin harvesters. In their March 2021 petition to delist the southern sea otter from the federal Endangered Species Act, the California Sea ...

Despite recent efforts by sea urchin harvesters to reduce protections for southern sea otters under the Endangered Species Act, the species is still at risk, federal officials say. The fuzzy ...

When the sea star wasting epidemic hit the waters of British Columbia, 96% of the sunflower star population was wiped out in 2015 and 2016. While sea otters were unaffected by wasting disease and ...

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Sea Otter Savvy monitors the animals in the Morro Bay Harbor, tracking their behavior and watching how they react to their environment. Sea otters remain ...

California’s sea otters were once hunted to the brink of extinction. We can thank conservation laws like the Endangered Species Act for there being a few thousand of them floating and paddling ...

Southern sea otters used to populate the coast from Oregon to Baja California in Mexico. However, the maritime fur trade during the 18th and 19th centuries decimated the species.