Southern Sea Otter with Kellet’s Whelk (Kelletia kelletii)

[Photographed from shore, at a distance, with tele lens + 1.4x teleconverter — no disturbance to the otter]

We heard the cracking first — the telltale sea otter sounds shells hammered on belly rocks. Those sounds punctuate the lulls along the Monterey shoreline. Once in a while, we hear metallic strikes from otters using nearby docks as cracking tools.

This percussion was louder than usual — and persistent. When I pointed my lens I saw some vigorous shell-crushing by a likely female otter, identified by her scarred nose (a typical mating injury).  I couldn’t identify the prey. The color of the shell faded from pink into algae green, and the size dwarfed the otter’s front paws.

When I later offloaded the images onto my Mac, I saw it was a large sea snail. Based on other photos I’d seen, I thought the snail was probably a Kellet’s Whelk. But, I didn’t realize until I posted it on social media that this was a relatively uncommon sight for Monterey Bay. I included my photo in an Instagram post, along with the tentative ID, which then led to this post by Sea Otter Savvy:

I’ve seen and photographed sea otters with many other foods and prey, including:

• mussels
• clams
• abalone
• urchins
• octopus
• sand dollars
• turban snails
• innkeeper worms
• sea cucumber (caught but not eaten)

Capturing moments like this thrills my citizen science self — the novelty of some moments. I’m not sure if this is a once-in-a-lifetime photo op, but I’ll definitely be looking for another Kelletia catch in an otter’s paws and claws.