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Most sea otters live in the kelp forest ecosystem. Kelp and other algae species are the primary producers of this ecosystem. Sea otters eat sea urchins, abalone, other shellfish, snails, and occasionally other animals unique to a particular area. Just about all of these animals are primary consumers, meaning they eat kelp and algae (some of them are also filter feeders that filter phytoplankton out of the water). Sharks will occasionally eat sea otters, but generally only if the otters are already injured (otherwise they are pretty good at escaping). It is suspected that orcas have recently been eating Alaskan sea otters. Sea otters are a keystone species in their ecosystem, as they keep shellfish and sea urchin populations in check. Without otters, these animals tend to overpopulate and eat all of the kelp. Since everything in the kelp forest (including many kinds of fish) depends on the kelp for survival, this leads to a collapse of the entire food web. The resulting ecosystem is called an "urchin barrens," since it is generally populated almost exclusively by sea urchins and other shellfish.

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15y ago

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