Order Sirenia

Karlie Jaeger6 February 2015

Description

• Fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals• Inhibit swamps, estuaries, marine wetlands, and coastal marine

waters• Have a low metabolism and poor tolerance for cold water• Grow between 2.5 and 4.0 meters long and weigh up to 1,500 kg• Aquatic Adaptations• Forelimbs and tail modified for steering and propulsion• Dense skeletal bones• Unlobed lungs which extend the entire length of the vertebral column

Family Dugongidae

Dugong

• Distribution and Habitat• Warm coastal waters from the

Western Pacific Ocean to the Eastern African Coast

• Between 26° and 27° to the north and south of the equator

• Diet• Sea grasses

• Reproduction• 13-15 month gestation to one calf• 14-18 month nursing period• 70 year lifespan

Family Trichechidae

Manatees

• Habitat• Shallow, marshy coastal areas and rivers• Often migrate through brackish water estuaries to freshwater springs

• Diet• Freshwater Plants (Pickerel weed, alligator weed, water lettuce, water celery, musk grass,

mangrove leaves, etc)• Saltwater Plants (Sea grasses, shoal grass, manatee grass, turtle grass, marine algae• 10-15% of their body weight every day

• Reproduction and Lifespan• 12 month gestation with one calf• 12-18 month nursing period• Breed once every 2-5 years• 60+ year lifespan

Florida Manatee

• Concentrated in Florida in the winter, migrate to Georgia and Texas in summer• Endangered Species• 2014- 4,831 manatees surveyed• “Speed Bumps of the Waterways”• Crushed/Drowned in canal locks,

ingestion of fish hooks, entanglement in crab lines, loss of habitat

Questions?