---
title: "Marine Otter"
description: "Lontra felina — Mammiferi. The marine otter (Lontra felina) is a rare and relatively unknown South American mammal of the weasel family (Mustelidae)."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/it/animal/marine-otter
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Marine Otter

> Lontra felina — Mammiferi. The marine otter (Lontra felina) is a rare and relatively unknown South American mammal of the weasel family (Mustelidae).

- Scientific name: *Lontra felina*
- Category: `mammals` (Mammiferi)
- Habitats: `sea` (Mare e costa)
- iNaturalist observations: 788
- Wikidata: [Q644224](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q644224)
- iNaturalist taxon: [41776](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/41776)

## Names

- en: Marine Otter
- de: Küstenotter
- es: Chungungo
- fr: Loutre De Mer
- nl: Kustotter
- pt: Chugungo
- pl: Wydrak patagoński

## Countries with the most observations

CL (667), PE (67)

## Summary

The marine otter (Lontra felina) is a rare and relatively unknown South American mammal of the weasel family (Mustelidae).  The scientific name means "feline otter", and in Spanish, the marine otter is also often referred to as gato marino: "marine cat".  The marine otter (while spending much of its time out of the water) only lives in saltwater, coastal environments and rarely ventures into fresh water or estuarine habitats. This saltwater exclusivity is unlike most other otter species, except for the almost fully aquatic sea otter (Enhydra lutris) of the North Pacific.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_otter

## Photo

![Marine Otter](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/marine-otter/medium.jpg)

Photo: Allan Harris · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/199849702

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/marine-otter?lang=it` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).