A Sea Otter off the coast of British Columbia pigging out while we photographed him.  Sea Otters eat various things including mussels, crabs, clams and sea urchins.  In this image, he came up with two nice bright purple Sea Urchins and held one on his belly while eating the other one.  We were fortunate that we had the opportunity to photograph him many times after he dived down to gather more food and then brought it up to enjoy it.

We were lucky on this trip to capture many different aspects of Sea Otters in their natural environment.  We saw them eating, like in this image, wrapped in kelp, carrying their pups, preening, and even attempting to mate.  Sea Otters continue to be one of my favorite photographic subjects each year on the Marine Mammals trip. I’m already looking forward to 2019!

This image is copyright © Terri Shaddick, if you are interested in using or purchasing this image, or any other images on my site, contact Terri Shaddick at [email protected].

Taken: August 9, 2018
Location: Johnstone Strait, British Columbia

Camera: Canon EOS 1DX Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4x III Extender
Focal Length: 700mm
Aperture: f/7.1
ISO: 1000
Exposure: 1/2500