Salish Sea, Pacific Northwest
September 2017
It might not have come up yet, but if it does, you’ll want to be prepared: how to properly eat a freshly caught raw BIG fish. Luckily I got a tutorial recently, and will share it with you.
First, you find a table. Usually River Otters just surface with their catch and munch it down floating there before diving back down for the next fish or crab. But when their prize is too big for that, they need a solid surface to dispatch and dismember it.
This Otter considered using the beach but saw a good-size flock of gulls down the way, and picked this rock a little ways out, surrounded by water there being a medium high tide, with a ledge on the far side for privacy. When the tide’s higher it’s a breeze climbing on board, but this time Otter had to choose the easiest spot to climb up onto the ledge.
Checking out this side...
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….and that side....
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Lowest spot. Otter needs both hands to climb. You hold the fish in your mouth by its tail. Pay no attention to the flailing.
The Fish is far enough out of the water so we can see what it is: a Staghorn Sculpin (www.fishbase.org/...), a really big one, about a foot long. When threatened, these sculpins raise their "horns” behind their eyes. They are shallow-water bottomfish, hunting small invertebrates, staying hidden in seaweed or eelgrass, relatively slow for a fish. However bottomish and crabs are Otter’s favorite foods.
The fish source linked above says Staghorn Sculpins emit a soft humming noise when in distress. I didn’t hear that. I do have mixed feelings about one creature dying to feed another.
On the table.
First step is to dispatch the fish. Otter turns it around and crunches down on its head, killing it swiftly.
Now Otter can rest for a sec, and looks around to see if anyone’s watching, to see what else is going on nearby. I’m way up on the bluff and Otter either doesn’t see me or ignores me.
Once the fish is dead and still, Otter flips it around again and starts chewing it from the tail end.
Sometimes that requires holding the fish in position and pulling at it. There’s a big skeleton in there.
Steadily working its way down toward the head.
Pauses a moment. Using relative sizes, the otter being typically 3-4 feet long, this fish is a sizeable meal.
Most of the soft parts are consumed, the meat, skin and guts. But Otter doesn’t stop there.
Otter eats the entire fish, except the jaw bones which are lined with teeth.
Leaving that behind, Otter climbs onto the top of the rock.
This is the classic otter pose we see on land. Awkward compared to its sleek graceful movements underwatet.
Checking out the gulls.
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They didn’t see any part of Otter’s meal. He was very quiet.
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Time to jump back into the sea.
Not a splash. Otter has incredible finesse.
Off he goes, in his element. Otters have to come ashore for some things but they prefer being in water.
Why do I think this lone one is male? The females are traveling now with their youngsters born this spring.
It took Otter about 15 minutes to completely consume this fish, which I estimate is probably about 2-3 lbs. Adult otters (wdfw.wa.gov/…, www.otter-world.com/...) need to eat about 6 lbs of fish a day, so this big old sculpin must have been very satisfying meal for Otter.
The next day even the jawbones were gone. Scavengers need to eat too.
So that’s how you otter feast on a great big sculpin fish. Yum!
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