Where are Manatees?

http://w3.shorecrest.org/~Lisa_Peck/MarineBio/syllabus/ch9vertebrates/mammals/mammalwp/barbara/map.JPG

Florida Manatee

Description of the Florida Manatee

The Florida manatee is a large marine mammal that resides in the shallow coastal waters of Florida. They are generally three to four meters long and weight around 450 to 550 kilograms. They have two pectoral flippers, one on each side of its body, but its main appendage used for movement is its round, wide, horizontally flattened tail. Manatees aren’t fast swimmers, and can reach speeds up to only about 25km/hour. Since they breathe air, they prefer water depths of one to four meters and their nostrils are on the top of their whiskered-covered snout. Manatees have a very slow metabolism, which makes them more susceptible to cold water temperatures. Due to these characteristics of their anatomy, the manatee is a vulnerable organism, and often has difficulties protecting themselves when confronted with a situation. 

Scientific Classification

The manatee is a unique marine mammal. Sometimes called a sea cow, it belongs to the order Sirenia, which includes three species of manatee and one species of dugong. The manatee belongs to the famliy Trichechidae and the genusTrichechus (Linnaeus, 1758). There are currently three species of manatee: Trichechus senegalensis (African manatee), Trichechus inunguis (Amazonian manatee), andTrichechus manatus (West Indian manatee). However, the last species mentioned can be further divided into two sub-species: Trichechus manatus manatus(Caribbean manatee) and Trichechus manatus latirostris (Florida manatee). New evidence suggests that there may be another species of manatee branching off of the species of Amazonian manatee, Trichechus inunguis pygmaeus (Dwarf manatee). This newly discovered manatee lives in the Amazon, but it has some very distinct differences from the Amazonian manatee, one of them being that it is much smaller in size (hence, it is called the "dwarf manatee").

References/Citations

All information on this blog has been extracted from the following websites/articles:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichechidae
• savethemanatee.org 
• Husar, S.L., 1978, Trichechus manatus: Mammalian Species, v. 93, p. 1-5.