Dugong and Manatee

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Food

By Alan Davidson

Published 2014

  • About

dugong and manatee the names used in SE Asia (and other Indo-Pacific regions, including N. Australia and E. Africa) and the W. Indies respectively for certain marine mammals in the order Sirenia, also commonly referred to as sea cows. The former is Halicore dugong, while the latter name corresponds to three species: Trichechus manatus, the W. Indian manatee (with two subspecies, the Florida manatee and the Antillean manatee); T. inunguis, the Amazonian manatee (inunguis because its flippers do not have the fingernails possessed by other manatees); and T. senegalensis, the W. African manatee.