Sanibel's Manatee: No Mermaid but Still Amazing

There are few older or more beguiling tales than those about mermaids.

And as interesting, is the explanation for same offered up that what sailors were describing as beautiful women of the water were actually the rather homely manatee who are as dependent on air as real fish are on water.

The order Sirenia, to which the Florida manatee belongs, is from the Latin siren, or mermaid. The myth of a part-woman, part-fish with great seductive powers -- and no scruples -- has existed for centuries. As long as there have been seafarers, it seems, there have been mermaids to play with their minds.

The mermaid has occasionally been depicted in writing and art as ugly, but she is more often pretty, if a little lewd. In her brashest incarnation she sings loudly and hoists her split tail around her head.

These legends of singing sirens were made by sailors as explanations for why they were led astray say modern day folklorists. The New World sirens were a gentler, if homelier, lot.

Sailing near the Dominican Republic in 1493, Christopher Columbus described in his log some "female forms" that "rose high out of the sea, but were not as beautiful as they are represented."

Indeed, manatees, frequently seen swimming in the waters of Sanibel, are quite a sight. From time to time, they will approach swimmers, never to menace, but out of curiosity and a need to groom. Manatees will brush up against a swimmer to rid themselves of barnacles, and it surely is an encounter to remember.

Manatees have a mean mass of 400 to 550 kilograms (880 to 1,200 lb), and mean length of 2.8 to 3 metres (9.2 to 9.8 ft), with maximums of 3.6 metres (12 ft) and 1,775 kilograms (3,910 lb) seen (the females tend to be larger and heavier). When born, baby manatees have an average mass of 30 kilograms (66 lb).

In addition to their pure bulk, they have a face one would not forget. They have a large flexible prehensile upper lip that acts in many ways like a shortened trunk, somewhat similar to an elephant's. They use the lip to gather food and eat, as well as using it for social interactions and communications.

And, they are "up in the air" a great deal of the time, again making them an easy target. Half a manatee's day is spent sleeping in the water, surfacing for air regularly at intervals no greater than 20 minutes. Manatees spend most of the rest of the time grazing in shallow waters at depths of 1–2 metres (3.3–6.6 ft). The Florida subspecies (T. m. latirostris) has been known to live up to 60 years.

There are lots of fascinating creatures on land and by sea on Sanibel Island, and the amazing manatee is certainly one of them.