It is well known that Eurasian otters principally feed on fishes and crustaceans, however, their detailed diet taxonomies are not fully understood. I performed a series of Sanger-sequencing reactions, utilizing nine primer sets for Eurasian otter diet research. In these data materials, in total 153 readable DNA sequences of a diet research on Eurasian otter of Kinmen Island are presented. Such information provides a very detailed insight of feeding behavior of the Eurasian otter in Kinmen.

These sequences were sequenced from 49 DNA samples extracted from fresh spraints collected from Kinmen from April 2017 to November 2018. Each DNA sample was PCR-amplified 9 times and with 9 primer sets. Eight of them are published universal COI primers and targeted toward different prey taxa. Besides, I designed a group of COIII primers for the introduced tilapia, the most abundant prey species in Kinmen Island.

In total, 16 prey types were identified across all 49 samples. Furthermore, another identified sequence group comprised “non-food species”, including bacteria, amoeba, diatoms, small insects (e.g. ants and mosquitos) and small invertebrates, as well as the otters’ sequences themselves. The detailed information of these 153 sequences including collection sites, primers, identified food/non-food species, linkage of blast results, etc. are listed in S2.xlxs; for the sequences themselves are listed in S3.txt.

These data were sequenced from 49 DNA samples extracted from fresh spraints collected from Kinmen from April 2017 to November 2018. Each DNA sample was PCR-amplified 9 times by Sanger sequencing method and with 9 primer sets. Eight of them are published universal COI primers and targeted toward different prey taxa. They are (I) forward primer BirdF1 and reverse primer cocktails BirdR1+R2+R (BirdRM) for avian species; (II) forward primer VF1 and reverse primer cocktails VR1+VR1d (VRM) for mammals, reptiles, fish, amphibians, and some insects; (III) forward primer chmf4 and reverse primer chmr4 for amphibians; (IV) forward primer FF2d and reverse primer FR1d for fishes; (V) forward primer FishF1 and reverse primer FishR1 for fishes; (VI) forward primer FishF2 and reverse primer FishR2 for fishes; (VII) forward primer LCO1490 and reverse primer HCO2198 for various phyla from the animal kingdom; (VIII) forward primer LepF1 and reverse primer LepR1 for Lepidoptera. Besides, I designed a group of COIII primers for the introduced tilapia, the most abundant prey species in Kinmen Island. They are (IX) forward primer Til9020F and reverse primer cocktails Mos9516R+Nil9464R+Esc9305R+Zil9212R (TilMR). The PCR thermal cycling conditions consisted of 5 min at 94 °C, 40 cycles of 30 sec at 94 °C, 30 sec at 50 °C, 50 sec at 72 °C, and a final step of 5 min at 72 °C.