“It’s a shark! It’s a sea turtle!”
My classmates and I heard these shouts as they rang out from swimmers in the water while we were settled on a small dock near the shore. Curious and pretty excited, we jumped up to get a better view of this unidentifiable creature. As it turns out, it was none of those!
It was a manatee!
This majestic creature slowly swam through the area, leaving us amazed and speechless. I personally have never seen one in the wild and certainly wasn’t expecting to see one to swim by near this shore. The entire experience only lasted less than a minute, but we couldn’t help but continue to talk about it for some time afterwards.
The Florida manatee, also known as the “sea cow,” is a large marine mammal that graces the shores, bays, estuaries, shallow rivers, and mangrove forest channels of this state. These animals are herbivores and mainly consume sea grasses and other underwater vegetation. They are known for being very gentle and slow animals and witnessing one with my own eyes was incredible.
Unfortunately, the Florida manatee populations are declining. The threats these beautiful creatures face are mostly due to human activity, such as boating, and the loss of natural sea grass beds, which is their main source of consumption. They are currently listed as “Vulnerable” in the International Union for Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, Red List, but the continuing trend in their numbers may cause them to become endangered. As Florida’s state marine mammal, many locals have taken a stance against the further harm of manatees and their natural environments. By protecting natural warm locations and regrowing sea grass beds, as well as other measures, the manatees may stand a chance against habitat loss. As boating accidents are also a common threat to manatees, many have suggested and initiated avoidance of their common areas or reducing the speed of ships significantly in more shallow areas to reduce these accidents. Hopefully, these and more actions are done to protect and preserve these amazing creatures.
I really hope I get another chance to be able to witness these amazing animals again during this trip. They were definitely one of my favorite creatures to see and I hope to see their population numbers increase in the future!
For more information about these beautiful animals that call Florida waters “home,” check out the links below:
Its sad that their only threat are the effects of humans on their already stunted ecosystem. Growing up SeaWorld had a full exhibit on manatees. But, when their populations continued to decline they were sent back to Florida. As I did not see any in the wild last year, it was amazing to get even a quick glimpse. Though, I struggle to see how sailors confused them for mermaids...
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