Dental microwear of extant Lutrinae.

This article focuses on the use of dental microwear analysis to differentiate dietary habits among eight species of extant otters (subfamily Lutrinae, family Mustelidae) with varying degrees of piscivory (fish-eating) and durophagy (hard-object feeding, such as on crustaceans). Using optical scanning and both scale-sensitive fractal analysis (SSFA) and ISO 25178-2 areal roughness parameters, the study found that while SSFA parameters alone did not distinguish species well, several ISO parameters significantly differentiated species and dietary categories, particularly separating durophagous species like Enhydra lutris (sea otter) from primarily piscivorous species. The results suggest that dental microwear reflects dietary differences related to the consumption of hard versus soft prey, though the authors note limitations due to small sample sizes and recommend further research incorporating larger samples, seasonal dietary data, and additional otter species to better understand the relationship between microwear patterns and feeding ecology in both extant and fossil otters.