Yune Hur - ebook sea otter

All facts about 

​ S​ EA OTTERS!!! 

 

Contents Page: …..p 1
….. p 2
All about otters ….. p 3
The saltwater ecosystem with the sea otters ….. p 4
Energy transfer ….. p 5
Balances and Imbalances ….. p 6
Adaptations of sea otters ….. P 7
Glossary
Works Cited

Page 1

ALL ABOUT ​otters 

A little introduction about my character.
My animals is a sea otter. They live in the saltwater ecosystem 
which also known as the ocean. The best known ocean that 
sea otters live is the pacific ocean. 
 

Food:

Sea otters eat sea urchins, fish, clams, crabs, octopuses, mussels and abalones. Sea
urchins eat kelp from the kelp forest. Sea otters eat sea urchins to ​protect​ their ​habitat
which is the kelp forest.

Sea urchin ​ ​ ​ fish ​ ​ clams ​ crabs

Description:

Sea otters have short legs with webbed​ ​feet and ​tapered​ and muscular (strong) tails that
are perfect for swimming. Their feet look like feet of a duck. Like
that:

They have furs that are coated. Their brown fur helps them float on the water. They
usually have big nose. They are normally shaped as heart,

diamond, triangle or almond shapes. The eyes and ears of sea otters are small in
proportion​ of their other body parts.

Interesting Facts:

● Otters are from the weasel family 
● Sea otters are ​vertebrate​. It mean they have back bones 
● All otters are mammal 
● My animal is w​ arm-blooded 
● They are born with their eyes open! 
● They actually have two layers of fur: a dense fur beneath that traps air and a 

topcoat of long, w​ aterproof​ hairs. 
● They can’t breathe underwater. However, they can hold their breath for a long 

time just like dolphins, whales and penguins. 
● Sea otters hold hands while they sleep so they don’t drift away 
● Their nose and ears close underwater.  

Page 2

The ​sa​ l​ ​tw​ ​ate​ r ec​ ​os​ y​ ​ste​ ​m 
 

 
My animal lives in the Saltwater ecosystem which is the ocean. It is also called the
marine biome​. The water in the ocean is a mixture of water and ​dissolved ​salt.

The mariana trench

The ocean covers 70% of the Earth. Sea creatures, such as fish, live in the ocean. The
average depth of the ocean is 12,400 feet. Deep, right? But did you know that the
mariana trench​ is 36,069 feet deep? It is 10.9938312 kilometers deep!! The saltwater
ecosystem is deeper than any other water ecosystem.

As you go deeper underwater, it gets colder and darker. In the mariana trench, there are
other sea creatures that is really hard to see. They are usually rare and even they aren’t
rare, they don’t show up in front of us because they live really deep (36,000 feet) in the
ocean.
For example, blobfish live in the mariana trench.

This is a picture of a blobfish.

Even the biggest animal on earth lives in the saltwater

ecosystem. The blue whale.

By those 2 animals that live in 2 different part of the ocean, it shows that the
saltwater ecosystem is really big and includes a lot of creatures in the ecosystem.

Phytoplankton

The ocean is surrounded by ocean animals and plants. However, the most
important thing in the whole ecosystem is the p​ hytoplankton.​ Phytoplankton is the
major producer in my ecosystem. It p​ roduces​ the energies for the sea creatures.

Picture of the Phytoplankton

Page 3

Energy Transfer 
  

There are a lot for energy transfer and food chains in my ecosystem. As it said
before, otters’ s​ pecific​ habitat is the kelp forest. In that part of the ecosystem, there
is a big food chain. Usually the simple way to explain the kelp forest energy
transfer is that sea otters eat the sea urchins and the sea urchins eat the kelps.

This is a food web of
the kelp forest in the
ocean where my
animal, sea otters live.

 
 

Sea otters eat get energy from the sea urchins, the sea urchins get energy from the 
ocean plants especially kelps and the kelps and other ocean plants get energy from the 
sun and nutrients from the saltwater. 

 
 
 

 

Page 4 
Balances ​and​ Imbalances 

There are both imbalances and balances in my ecosystem.

There are a few i​ nvasive species​ in my ecosystem. Some of the invasive species
are zebra mussel, green crab, killer algae, sea walnut and veined rapa whelk. Some
of them i​ mpacted​ the ecosystem by ​overpopulating​ or eating all the foods that the
sea creatures have to survive with.

There are also human impacts. We normally​ litter​ if we have trash in our hands,
right? Those littered trash flows down to the river and it finally ends up in the
ocean. As it flows, sea animals can get stuck in some plastic bags. Some plastic

straws can get stuck into some sea creatures. There
is a turtle who had a plastic straw stuck in its
nostrils. There are a lot of secreatures dying and
their plants overpopulating.

Page 5

Adaptations

Sea otters:
The sea otters have a lot of adaptations to ​survive ​in my ecosystem. They have
webbed feet and a tapered tail to swim fast. Because of their feet and tail, they can
swim away really fast from their ​predators​. Their​ p​ redators are usually whales.

They also have big claws that can grab the sea urchins. They crack the urchins on
the rock and eat the inside.(flesh)

They also have short legs and and a sleek body for well swimming and going
through narrow places.
And the best part, they have coated fur. They have two layers of fur. Those 2 layers
of fur prevent sea otters from drowning and keep them float on the water.

GLOSSARY Page 6

dissolved Melt, make a solution
ecosystem environment
Habitat An environment to live in, home, especially
impacted Caused; gave an impact
Invasive species Species that invaded a certain space
litter To throw away rubbish on the ground or
anywhere instead of the rubbish can
Mariana trench The end point of the ocean
Marine biome Marine, water
overpopulating To fill with an excessive amount of human, etc.
phytoplankton The combination plant and plant like plankton
predators Organisms that are preying over another
organism
Proportion Portion, fraction
produce To give in existence, cause, yield
protect defend
specific Particular, special
Tapered Smaller or thinner towards the end ( > )
Vertebrate Creatures with backbones.
Water proof Sealed to keep away water

P​ age 7

Works Cited (list these in alphabetical order)
Use this website to help.
https://elementary.oslis.org/cite-sources/mla-elementary-citation

education.seattlepi.com/top-10-salt-water-ecosystem-4480.html.
howweseetheenvironment.wordpress.com/2015/05/10/sea-otters-global-warming-warriors/.
justfunfacts.com/interesting-facts-about-otters/.
kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/sea-otter/#sea-otter-closeup2.jpg.
marinbiome.weebly.com/adaptations.html.
ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/5-invasive-species-you-should-know.
sciencing.com/adaptations-ocean-plants-6560351.html.
www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/geography/general-geography/ocean-facts/​.