World Otter Day highlights how these playful animals serve as crucial indicators of healthy aquatic ecosystems.

Kelp forests rely on the top-down pressure sea otters exert via predation on sea urchins. By controlling the sea urchin population, they help manage the grazing pressure on kelp, since sea urchins ...

The cost of climate change on Nova Scotia’s kelp forests has broken Dr. Karen Filbee-Dexter’s heart. But nature’s resilience ...

Without sea otters, sea urchin numbers would spike, and the stability of this ecosystem would collapse. Sea urchins would graze through the kelp forest, chewing away at the base and sending the rest ...

All animals and plants are important to their environment, but are some more important than others? Every ecosystem consists ...

Purple Sea Urchin, strongylocentrotus purpuratus, California. Sea Urchin. Image by slowmotiongli via Depositphotos. Sea otters have a profound effect on sea urchin populations. By preying on sea ...

As coral reefs struggle to adapt to warming waters, high levels of pollution and sea-level rise, ballooning sea-urchin ...

Massive sea urchin populations are destroying Hawaii's coral reefs faster than they can naturally rebuild themselves.

They’re big, like an overweight Peruvian dog,” is how photographer Santiago Romaní describes giant otters (Pteronura ...

Southern sea otters, Suri and Willow, spent two years at Shedd Aquarium preparing to care for otter pups Southern sea otters Suri and Willow returned to California's Aquarium of the Pacific after ...

(KRON) — After weeks of training behind-the-scenes, the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s newest sea otter, Opal, officially joined the sea otter exhibit. Visitors can now see Opal playing with her ...

CHICAGO (WGN) — A new sea otter has moved into the Shedd Aquarium where she will begin training for a very important role. The unnamed two-year-old otter was rescued in Marina, California by ...