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A photo posted on Facebook by the San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust showed what appears to be a river otter.<\/p>\n
San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust<\/p>\n
A river otter was apparently spotted in the San Joaquin River in northern Fresno County, stewards of the waterway said on Friday.<\/p>\n
Officials were quick to say they could not be certain the partially submerged animal spotted swimming in a river channel was an otter<\/a>, and they were waiting on a confirmation from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, but the furry swimmer appeared to be an otter rather than a beaver, rat or other animal.<\/p>\n The video was likely near Sycamore Island in an old gravel pond now filled with water, according to Sharon Weaver, the executive director<\/a> of the San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re an apex aquatic predator. So if you have a river otter in the system, that indicates that the whole system is pretty healthy,\u201d she said. \u201cOtherwise, the ecosystem doesn\u2019t support that kind of predator, because it means you\u2019ve got to have the whole food chain that\u2019s functioning, and that you\u2019ve got plenty of food sources for those predators.\u201d<\/p>\n Otters are not commonly seen in the area, she said. They are native to the region.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say for 20 years I never heard about anybody seeing river otters in the San Joaquin River, even though theoretically they could be here, she said. \u201cBut now, all of a sudden in the last year we\u2019ve had sighting after sighting after sighting of people that believe they\u2019re seeing river otters.\u201d<\/p>\n Adult river otters are about 10 to 33 pounds and 2.5 to 5 feet long, according to state Fish and Wildlife<\/a>. Males tend to be larger than females.<\/p>\n They live in riparian regions \u2014 areas near the banks of water \u2014 often in the same spots as beavers, the department says. Otters eat fish, frogs, crayfish, turtles, insects and other aquatic animals, but also some small mammals.<\/p>\n A photo posted on Facebook by the San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust showed what appears to be a rare sighting of an river otter. San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust
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