Manatees Water Fish

Manatees are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living species in the order Sirenia: the Amazonian manatee, the West Indian manatee, and the West African manatee.

Scientific name: Trichechus

Family: Trichechidae; Gill 1872

Class: Mammalia

Phylum: Chordata

Mass: West Indian manatee: 450 kg, Amazonian manatee: 420 kg, African manatee: 450 kg Encyclopedia of Life

Length: West Indian manatee: 3.5 m, Amazonian manatee: 2.8 m, African manatee: 3.5 m Encyclopedia of Life

Gestation period: West Indian manatee: 11 months, Amazonian manatee: 12 months, African manatee: 12 months

Manatees (family Trichechidae, genus Trichechus) are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows.

There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living species in the order Sirenia: the Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis), the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus), and the West

African manatee (Trichechus senegalensis). They measure up to 4.0 metres (13.1 ft) long, weigh as much as 590 kilograms (1,300 lb), and have paddle-like flippers.

The etymology of the name is dubious, with connections having been made to Latin "manus" (hand), and to a word sometimes cited as "manati" used by the Taíno, a pre-Columbian people of the Caribbean, meaning "breast".

Manatees are occasionally called sea cows, as they are slow plant-eaters, peaceful and similar to cows on land. They often graze on water plants in tropical seas.