Alix loved fishing trips with Grandpa. As he steered his boat across Sarasota Bay, Alix looked out over the shimmering blue water.
“No manatees,” she called over the noisy motor.
“Keep a lookout,” Grandpa said. As they neared the mangroves, he slowed the boat to a crawl. Then he turned off the engine. Suddenly it was silent, except for the gentle slap of water against the boat’s hull.
Grandpa took out their fishing poles and bait. He handed Alix her pole. She dropped the line with hook and sinker over the railing into the shallow water.
As she fished, Alix noticed many things in the mangrove bayou. A group of sea birds bobbed on the surface of the water. A school of baby fish swam quickly through the turtle grass below. Staring down, she could make out bumpy, half-buried oyster shells on the bay’s muddy bottom.
But still no manatees.
The boat drifted lazily over the grassy, shallow water. Alix and Grandpa fish for hours. Alix caught a trout. Grandpa landed a mackerel.
The boat drifted closer to the shoreline. That’s when Alix saw them. Three gray humps with brown speckles bumped up from below the surface of the water.
“Manatees!” she whispered.
Grandpa poled the boat closer.
Two of the manatees rolled and splashed in the water. One did not. It lay still on the shore of the mangrove bayou. Deep cuts crossed its broad back.
“He’s hurt,” she murmured. “What happened?”
“A boat probably hit him,” said Grandpa. “A boater may have been going too fast. Someone didn’t look out for manatees.”
“What should we do?”
“We’ll radio for help.”
The rescue team promised to come fast. “They will take our manatee friend to a hospital with animal doctors,” Grandpa said. “They’ll help him get better.”
“Don’t worry,” Alix whispered to the still manatee, “We’ll stay here until help comes.”
Alix waited. She was so busy watching the manatee that she forgot about her fishing pole. Grandpa spotted a tug on her line. “You got something,” Grandpa said. A snook.
That hardly mattered to Alix. At last she spotted the rescue boat.
The team gently lifted the hurt manatee onboard.
“Please get better soon,” Alix said to the manatee as she waved goodbye.
Grandpa and Alix put their fishing poles away.
As Grandpa’s boat chugged slowly toward home, another boat sped past them.
“Slow down,” Alix called. “Look out for manatees!”
Manatee Facts
1. Manatees are related to elephants.
2. A manatee calf weighs about 66 pounds at birth. Adult manatees weigh between 800 and 1,200 pounds. They can grow up to 15 feet long.
3. Manatees are strong swimmers. They can reach speeds of 15 miles per hour in bursts. How? A manatee pumps its tail up and down to propel it through the water.
4. Manatees can swim upside down, roll, do somersaults, or move vertically in the water. They steer with their front flippers.
5. Manatees have thick, gray-brown, wrinkled skin. Algae loves to grow there!
6. Like cattle, manatees eat only grasses and other vegetation. They’re often called “sea cows.”
7. The Florida Manatee is Florida’s state marine animal.
8. The biggest threats to manatees are entanglement in fishing line and collision with boats.
