Sometimes an unexpected photo project falls straight into your lap, and so it was with me and mermaids. In the winter of 2008, my wife and I decided to rent a condo in Crystal River, Florida to fulfill the promise I had made to myself some 36 years earlier. I asked the agent at the real estate office if she had any properties close to where one might possibly see a manatee. The agent just smiled. Jacques Cousteau, the famous ocean explorer called manatees the forgotten mermaids. Ten minutes later the real estate agent was showing us half a dozen 500-kilogram tubbies with leathery lips and a moustache of stiff bristles, loafing in a spring only a few metres from a condo she was anxious to rent – it was a match made in heaven.
This is an aerial photograph of the small condo complex where Aubrey and stayed. Several small boat docks were associated with the condos where we often sat and watched manatees in the shallow water. On quiet nights when there was a high tide, if we left the bedroom window open, we could hear them munching on underwater vegetation they had brought to the surface.
That first winter I was not a serious underwater photographer (and still am not today), and I swam with the manatees for the sheer enjoyment of it, but I quickly got hooked and soon began to photograph these endearing marine mammals.
Over the next five winters I swam with and photographed manatees every day that I could, and eventually in 2017 I published the book Florida Manatees: Biology, Behaviour and Conservation.
Manatees are one of the few animals I have worked with that will approach humans for nothing more than tactile stimulation. They especially like being scratched on their belly. This juvenile female swam over to me, and as I hung motionless in the water she began to tug and chew on my vest. The photographer, Kathy Parker, who took these memorable photographs, joked that maybe the manatee and I should “get a room”.
A manatee’s thick, fleshy lips are prehensile, capable of manipulating plants and sweeping the vegetation into its mouth assisted by its moustache of sensitive bristles.
The manatee is a marine mammal, and although they are not as social as many seals, sea lions, and whales, it is found more often in groups than alone.
Until the late 1800s, scientists thought the manatee was simply an unusual, subtropical version of the walrus. They have similar looking faces, and both have a large, blubbery body.
It turns out that the manatee is not related to other marine mammals at all. Surprisingly, its closest relatives are a group of terrestrial African mammals including the aardvark, elephant, and hyrax.
Like all marine mammals, manatees must periodically surface to breath, although they can hold their breath for up to 20 minutes.
The skin of a manatee is often covered with algae and small marine invertebrates. In the photograph, a school of striped mullet is grooming the manatee’s skin. Both parties benefit. The manatee gets rid of bothersome freeloaders and the fish get a snack.
When a friendly manatee would gently chew on my wetsuit or grab my arm it was impossible not to laugh, and I often had to surface because I was choking on water I had accidentally inhaled.
Like baby animals everywhere, a young manatee likes to stay close to its mother.
Female manatees have two mammary glands, one under each front flipper. A young manatee may nurse for up to two years and be dependent upon its mother for that entire time.
The manatee, also known as the sea cow, is a vegetarian that eats a wide range of plants, including algae, mangrove seedlings, and milfoil. This pair of manatees is swimming over a lush bed of sea grasses, its favorite food.
Manatees are amazingly graceful swimmers, and they would often slowly roll in the water in front of me for no apparent reason.
Manatees sleep on the bottom, rising to the surface every 10-15 minutes to breath. The manatee is a hemispheric sleeper, which means while one half of its brain is asleep the other half is awake and alert to danger. While this manatee was asleep, some redbreast sunfish were cleaning its skin.
A sleeping manatee may rest on its stomach or on its back.
The flippers of a manatee can be used to slowly walk along the ocean floor, scratch an itch, or stuff sea grass into its mouth.
The large spoon-shaped tail fluke of a manatee is what it uses to propel itself through the water. It can swim upside down and do barrel rolls and somersaults.
In winter, as the water temperature cools, many Florida manatees escape to multiple natural hot springs scattered along the coastline of the state. One morning, when the air temperature was below 0°C, I photographed a cluster of over 20 manatees resting quietly on the ocean bottom beside the underwater vents of a hot spring.
This juvenile was resting near an underwater vent and curiously approached me.
In the busy waterways of Florida, speeding motorboats pose a real threat to overwintering manatees.
The parallel scars on the back of this manatee are from the blades of a boat propeller.
Unfortunately, injuries from speeding motorboats were not uncommon for me to see. When a manatee detects an oncoming boat by the sound of its engine it tries to escape by diving. The fluke is the last part of the animal to leave the surface often resulting in severe, mutilating injuries to that body part.
The manatee has no natural predators and only humans and the coastal environments we control will determine if this endearing sea cow survives for future generations to enjoy. Currently, the total world population of the Florida manatee is estimated to be less than 13,000 animals.
It was an honor to collaborate on a book with the late distinguished marine scientist Dr. John Reynolds and sadly he died just three months before the book was released in 2017.
About the Author – Dr. Wayne Lynch
For more than 40 years, Dr. Wayne Lynch has been writing about and photographing the wildlands of the world from the stark beauty of the Arctic and Antarctic to the lush rainforests of the tropics. Today, he is one of Canada’s best-known and most widely published nature writers and wildlife photographers. His photo credits include hundreds of magazine covers, thousands of calendar shots, and tens of thousands of images published in over 80 countries. He is also the author/photographer of more than 45 books for children as well as over 20 highly acclaimed natural history books for adults including Windswept: A Passionate View of the Prairie Grasslands; Penguins of the World; Bears: Monarchs of the Northern Wilderness; A is for Arctic: Natural Wonders of a Polar World; Wild Birds Across the Prairies; Planet Arctic: Life at the Top of the World; The Great Northern Kingdom: Life in the Boreal Forest; Owls of the United States and Canada: A Complete Guide to their Biology and Behavior; Penguins: The World’s Coolest Birds; Galapagos: A Traveler’s Introduction; A Celebration of Prairie Birds; and Bears of the North: A Year Inside Their Worlds. In 2022, he released Wildlife of the Rockies for Kids, and Loons: Treasured Symbols of the North. His books have won multiple awards and have been described as “a magical combination of words and images.”
Dr. Lynch has observed and photographed wildlife in over 70 countries and is a Fellow of the internationally recognized Explorers Club, headquartered in New York City. A Fellow is someone who has actively participated in exploration or has substantially enlarged the scope of human knowledge through scientific achievements and published reports, books, and articles. In 1997, Dr. Lynch was elected as a Fellow to the Arctic Institute of North America in recognition of his contributions to the knowledge of polar and subpolar regions. And since 1996 his biography has been included in Canada’s Who’s Who.
Kudos to Dr Lynch on a superb article and photographs. Although I was aware of these animated mammals, my knowledge of them was limited.
It has been some time since I visited Florida. The next time I venture out on a scuba trip, I will seek out these fascinating manatees.
Cheers from a fellow Canadian.
Frederic Hore,
Montréal.
Hi Frederic. Merci beaucoup for the kind words. The manatees were one of the most adoring animals I have ever worked with. Swimming with them is a unique experience you will never regret.
Wayne