Manatees at CoCoView... who needs Whale Sharks?

[Doc]

© KevinG58

More? Have a look: Coco View 2010 pictures by KevinG58 - Photobucket

Spotted at French Key Bank

Discussion by those on the scene: Today the Manatee - CoCo Chat

 

[DiveMaven]

They saw the manatee while we were doing our orientation dive....bahh!!! We went back to try to find him again the next day, but he was long gone.

 

[aRea]

wow!!! That is very cool, a few months back there were a few sightings around Guanaja I believe also

 

[Dee]

Poor thing looks awfully thin. I know there are some areas with brackish water in some of the inlets but doubt there's enough vegetation to feed it. Wish we had him here to clean out the water hyacinths in our San Jacinto River!

 

[herman]

Poor thing looks awfully thin. I know there are some areas with brackish water in some of the inlets but doubt there's enough vegetation to feed it. Wish we had him here to clean out the water hyacinths in our San Jacinto River!

DEE!! The heck with the manatee, where have you been? Good to see you back, a few of the old members are still here.

 

[Bay Island Diver]

There have been a few spottings over the last four weeks, two on the same day, one on the south side, one on the north, which suggests that there is more than one.

 

[DeepBlueResort]

Hi

Yes we have had some sightings in Utila as well

 

[Doc]

Anyone want to check in with pictures say... from from Cayos Cochinos?

 

[Chaseh]

How do these suddenly appear in Roatan, especially more than one? Does it suggest that a pod (herd?) collectively made the swim across open ocean from the mainland?

 

[Doc]

They like fresh/salt mix, so-called brackish water, that which is found in stream run-off from rivers- then deposited in a very shielded, mangrove/swamp zone. This can be found all along the South shore of Roatan in the Mangrove areas. There is also a concentration of desirable habitat on the North shore at the far Eastern end.

It is no stretch to imagine that the area was once lush with Manatee, as were certainly coastal areas of Belize.

It is equally easy to imagine that even in pre-historic times, the locals hunted them to extinction.

They sure had to have migrated from somewhere, because life on the Mainland of Honduras, even in the most likely remaining spot near the Cape of Honduras or the Souther Belize swamps- they would have surely been hunted and killed in short order.

How do they suddenly appear? Like Doc Radawski says, "It's a big ocean out there".

I hope they have found a safe haven.