The lake water is crystal clear in winter. It is not just the shoals of small and large fish that can be seen floating under the water surface, even piles of half rotten leaves and snails hiding among bits of gravel are clearly visible in the azure water. Cold water fish often prefer to gather in hollows at the bottom of the lake and only at about eleven o'clock, when the air gets warmer, do they lazily float up to the surface in search of sustenance. The arrival of Grey Lady disturbed their leisurely way of life. From that day, the Warm Lake would turn into an underwater battlefield for a gruesome deadly chase.
I have to admit that I was astonished when I first witnessed Grey Lady's fish catching show. I think that all fishermen would envy her fishing skills. Strictly speaking, Grey Lady's skin is pure dark brown colour. When she is under water though, she turns into a greyish black streak of smoke. She first circles around her target in a quick and sprightly fashion, then, at the moment when the flock of fish is just becoming aware of her presence, she speeds up abruptly as if she were a miniature torpedo and charges directly into the middle of the flock, accompanied by a stream of bubbles.
At this point, the formerly peaceful underwater world seems as if it has been hit by a miniature bomb. The flock of fish bursts into activity as countless rays of silver shoot out from within, fast as lightening, and scatter in every direction. It is truly dazzling to watch. At that time, Grey Lady has already chosen her target and pierces it with a ghostly gaze. The fish are in complete confusion. They skilfully dart in every direction in an effort to dodge the attacker. But Grey Lady is already a step ahead of them. She chases the fish in tight pursuit; it almost seems as if she was already clutching the tail of her prey. Observing the scene from above, it seems as if there is an invisible string linking Grey Lady to her chosen prey. (For that reason I suspected that otters have an embedded radar system, same as dolphins). One is a silver arrow darting in front, the other a shooting star in close pursuit. They turn sharply, leap up into the air, dodge around cracks, and dive in the water, all this in the blink of an eye. This process normally only lasts for a few seconds and then everything comes to an abrupt end.
You do not quite know at precisely which instant (you have no chance of seeing clearly anyway), but the otter is already swimming leisurely back to the shore, clutching its prey in its mouth.
Considering that if one wants to catch fish in water, they have to swim even faster than fish do, then in this case the otter's body structure has already during the long evolution process reached perfection. Its body is long, thin and flat—perfectly suited for cutting through water. Its neck is long, thin and flexible. It can swerve and turn with the skill of an eel and attack with the abruptness of a shark. When it swims, the two webbed feet are folded under its belly. To speed up abruptly, they only have to slash through the water like a pair of powerful oars and it shoots forward with the speed of a wild hare. What worth mentioning is its wide, flat and extremely elastic tail and its firm yet sensitive whiskers. Its tail serves both as a propeller and as a rudder; it acts as the main driving force when it shoots through the water. The otter's whiskers are put to the same use as the whiskers of the walrus. They are adapted to help the otter search for fish, clams and crayfish in the murky depths. The otter was born to dive; it has a staggering lung capacity and the amount of haemoglobin in its blood is twice that of humans. It can also store oxygen in muscles and in the blood which allows it to stay under water for about one and a half minutes at a time. Its body is coated with two different layers of skin which is equivalent to wearing two layers of diving suit. Foreign specialists have estimated that the hair density on every square inch of its body is more than the total amount of hair on a dog. Such fur is completely impermeable. Its ears and nostrils are equipped with valves designed to keep out water. These valves automatically open and close as needed. The eyes are coated with smooth and transparent vela that serve as periscopes when it dives into the water. Besides sets of sharp and powerful teeth, including four cone-shaped canine teeth, the otter is, similarly to other species of the Felidae family, equipped with a pair of sharp front claws. These claws can inflict heavy damage by scratching, ripping and tearing its rival's muscle tissue. When the otter encounters a pike fish that weighs half stone or more, these claws usually play a vital part in deciding the victor of the fearsome battle.
