The West Indian Manatee is a large aquatic mammal that eats sea grasses and other aquatic plants equivalent to 4-9 percent of their body weight. Nicknamed “sea cows” due to their eating habits, manatees consume a wide variety of both saltwater and freshwater plants. These plants include turtle grass, shoal grass, sea clover, widgeon grass, mangrove leaves, manatee grass, water celery, water lettuce, pickerelweed, musk grass, alligator weed, hydrilla, water hyacinths, acorns, and algae.

They feed on vegetation found throughout the water, even reaching for hanging trees and branches with their upper lips. The manatee’s snouts are well adapted to exploit the various plants within their range. This adaptation makes it easy to classify manatees as herbivorous animals for observers. They avidly graze and consume substantial amounts of vegetation every 24 hours.

Are West Indian manatees omnivorous or herbivorous?

Well, strictly speaking, they are omnivorous—eating both vegetation and flesh. Manatees rely predominantly on herbs for survival and are distant relatives of the hyraxes and elephants. Also, they frequently eat flesh. For instance, Florida manatees have their diet typically made up of sea grasses, mollusks, worms, crustaceans, bivalves and fish. The invertebrates are usually ingested together with the vegetation, making it almost impossible to notice the animals feeding on them.

To supplement their vegetarian diet, which is quite low on proteins and lipids, manatees routinely ingest small animals. This helps them grow and maintain their huge bodies. In fact, manatees have strong jaws that crunch oyster shells with ease. This makes it convenient for invertebrates to be eaten together with seagrasses. The amount of invertebrates consumed often depends on the area in which the manatees are located. It also depends on the number of invertebrates in the grasses and the number of grazing hours. Since small animals may not suffice, manatees occasionally go out of their way to consume larger animals, such as fish.

Omnivorous By Necessity.

Manatees rely on seagrasses as they have evolved. They use their lips, flippers, and bristles to grasp plants, manipulating vegetation effectively with their front flippers and large, flexible lips. The ridged, horny pads at the front of the palate help grind vegetation into smaller pieces. They further break down vegetation into smaller fragments using their lower jaws and utilize the molars located behind the horny pads for grinding food. Due to their low metabolism, manatees need to consume pounds of vegetation daily. They spend about 8 hours eating, 10-12 hours resting, and around 4 hours socializing, traveling, or eating.

However, manatees often scavenge for fish carcasses or ingest fish trapped in nets to supplement their grass diet with meat. Manatees, distinct from seals, do not chase fast-swimming fish. They do, however, seize opportunities for easy meat. Observations reveal that along the northern coast of Jamaica and in certain areas of Florida, manatees consume fish from nets. These animals are frequently seen submerged next to fish nets, extracting the fish, briefly chewing, and removing the fleshy portion while leaving the skeletal remains ensnared in the net. Aside from fish, manatees consume the flesh of grouper and the carcasses of flounder.