The sea otter and harbor seal inhabit the same coastal waters and the rocky beaches and reefs. They provide an example of two fairly large, carnivorous, littoral mammals which are virtually noncompetitive. There is only a slight overlap in their food habits in the same locality. The otter feeds largely on echinoderms and shell-bearing mollusks, whereas the harbor seal depends mostly on freeswimming cephalopods and fishes.
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Ward M. Sharp (1957) studied this question.