Diet of Lontra longicaudis in Espejo River, Quindío, Colombia

We studied the diet of the Neotropical otter, Lontra longicaudis in the Espejo River (Department of Quindío, Colombia). This river has the highest levels of pollution within the catchment area of the La Vieja River. We visited a 5.6 km section of the river on nine occasions during the month of July 2009 and collected 131 otter scats. The fecal samples were washed, sieved, and their contents were examined. Stool samples indicated that the otter's diet in this river is mainly composed of fish comprising seven predated species. The most common prey items were Hypostomus sp. (31.6% of samples) and Brycon henni (29.22% of samples).