Abstract

The East Indian Manatee, Trichechus manatus is an endangered species with fewer than 1,000 animals remaining in Florida. The information reported here is generated from a salvage program designed to utilize free ranging manatees which are found dead to not only determine cause of death, but gain information regarding some of the animals' biological functions. Topics such as anatomy, developmental osteogenesis, and gross and microscopic pathology will be addressed.

Radiographs of the right flipper have demonstrated the progressive ossification of the bones of the manus, carpals, radius, ulna, and humerus as the manatee increases in length. The interaction of man and manatee accounts for many of the lesions observed which include superficial scars and collision-related trauma. Infectious diseases, congenital deformities, as well as parasitism may also be the cause of some deaths. The production of a pictorial anatomical guide as well as a tissue reference set will be presented.

Notes

The Sirenian salvage program is sponsored by the Fish and Wildlife Department in Florida. It has three objectives.

The primary objective is to determine the cause of death.

The secondary objective is to define the normal gross and microscopic anatomy of the manatee. Developmental anatomy such as how long the urachus is present will be useful knowledge foraging. A standardized postmortem technique will be developed and tissue reference sets will be made. It will be difficult to define the normal microbial flora since most of the specimens are found dead.

The final objective is to correlate the rate of osteogenesis with age.