by heatherm | Feb 3, 2011 | Blog - Tsunami Adventures
Every year the West Indian Manatees make their way out to the reef at the North Point of Caye Caulker Marine Reserve. The manatees relax and enjoy the cooler waters of the reef. They come here to mate and they come to have the algae cleaned from their bodies from the reef fish. We are very luckly to have seen them so often this year. At Tsunami Adventures we offer small groups, which gives you a better opportunity to see the manatees. We do not harass the manatees. Here is some information about the Manatees. Although their bulbous, whiskery face makes this hard to believe today, manatees are probably the source of legends about mermaids. Their humanlike eyes must have captivated the early European sailors who caught fleeting glimpses of them swimming in the warm waters of the West Indies. In the 17th century, mermaids were depicted with their male companions, mermen. Although the legends of these half-fish, half-human creatures have lived on for hundreds of years and are still popular today, it is uncertain whether the manatees that inspired the legends will live on much longer. Only a concerted effort to protect them in their marine habitat will save manatees from extinction. Range and Status Manatees inhabit warm waters of the Western Atlantic from Florida to Brazil where they live in coastal waters, freshwater inlets, and river mouths. Although their range is quite large, manatees today exist only in a few small, isolated populations. They once were widespread in rivers and along coasts in their range, but they were hunted extensively in the 18th and 19th centuries. Coastal...
