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NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 68 

 Table 60. — Foods offered to captive sea otters 



Food item Acceptability Remarks 



Crustacea i : 



King crab (Paralithodes) Preferred 



Tanner crab (Chionoecetes) do - > A limited amount (2 to 3 lb. per 



Shrimp (misc. sp.) do J animal) was eaten eagerly. If, how- 



ever, fish was also available it was 

 eaten and the remaining crab was 

 left uneaten. 



MoUusca 2 : 



Snails, mussels, limpets Accepted Eaten when hungry and nothing else 



available. 



Clams iSaxidomus, Chione) Preferred Eaten to capacity if sufficient avaDable. 



Octopus (Octopus) Highly preferred Do. 



Squid ( Loligo ) do Do. 



Echinodermata ^ : 



Starfish (Leptasterias) „ Refused Sample bitten off then discarded. 



Sea urchin {Strongylocen- 



trotus) - Accepted Eaten when gravid; refused when not 



gravid, and other foods available. 



Pisces * : 



Herring (Clupea) Accepted Refused at first but eaten when nothing 



else available. 



Salmon (Oncorhynchus) do Eaten reluctantly when nothing else 



available. 



Arctic char (Salvelinus) do Do. 



Lancetfish (Alepisaurus) do Do. 



Cod (Gadus) Preferred Do. 



Hake (Merluccius) do Do. 



Rockfish (Sebastodes) Highly preferred Eaten regularly and consistently — 



many feedings. 



Greenling ( Hexagrammos ) do Do. 



Lingcod (Ophiodon) do Do. 



Sculpin ( Hemilepidotus ) _— do Do. 



Poacher (Agonus) Accepted Eaten when nothing else available. 



Globefish (Cyclopterichthys) do... Do. 



Halibut ( Hippoglossus ) do Do. 



Sole (Lepidopsetta) Preferred Do. 



Canned fish (salmon, 



mackerel, sardines ) Refused Refused even when very hungry. 



Cooked fresh fish ( Green- 

 ling, boiled)—- do Do. 



Salted and brined (codfish) Sampled Small amount eaten reluctantly 



Aves: Goose flesh (PhUacte) Taken Eaten reluctantly when very hungry 



but passed through tract undigested 

 (StuUken and Kirkpatrick, 1955). 

 Mammalia: Seal flesh (Phoca) do Do. 



Mink food Refused Dried commercial mink food was mixed 



with fresh fish. Not eaten even when 

 hungry. 



1 Large pieces of shell discarded but many small pieces swallowed. J. Vania found that cap- 

 tive otters took live Dungeness crabs ( Cancer magister ) eagerly and were preferred to the exclu- 

 sion of other foods during extended periods. 



- Clam shells discarded but small shells of mussels and snails crushed and swallowed. 



3 Many pieces of shell swallowed. 



* Viscera and hard bones of head discarded but other bones and skin usually swallowed. 



^ Soviet biologists apparently successfully fed salted cod and haddock after soaking "8-10 days 

 in winter, 4-5 days in summer" ( Shidlovskaya, 1947). Our otters might have taken some of the 

 food items that were refused if they had been allowed to become suflaciently hungry. 



alive when removed from nets were stored until needed in cages 

 suspended in sea water from Kirilof dock. 



Most fish taken at Amchitka were heavily infested with the 

 roundworm Terranova decipiens. This parasite was tolerated in 

 small numbers by sea otters but when heavy infestations were 

 accumulated in captive animals they became lethargic and ex- 

 hibited malaise. On autopsy, intestines of juveniles were found to 

 be perforated by the worms. After 1956, all fish given to captive 



