What Kind of Plants Do Manatees Eat?
Manatees are large, gray marine mammals that populate the waters from Florida all the way to Brazil. Often referred to as "sea cows," manatees can reach up to 13 feet in length and weigh in at as much as 1,300 pounds. They are herbivores that feed off of the abundant marine plant life.
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Plant Diet
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Manatees eat a variety of submerged, floating and emergent vegetation that can be found in both marine and fresh water. Specific marine plants include manatee grass, turtle grass, shoal grass and widgeon grass, while freshwater species include hydrilla, eelgrass, water hyacinth and water lettuce.
Rate of Consumption
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Using the whiskers on their upper lips to push food toward their mouths, manatees eat up to 10 percent of their weight a day to gain the sustenance they need to survive. That's up to 13 pounds of vegetation every day.
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Newborn Diet
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Newborn manatees gain nourishment from their mother's milk. After a few months, calves begin grazing on marine vegetation but continue to depend on their mother for up to two years after birth.
Diet Exceptions
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Although manatees are herbivores, they can be accidental meat eaters. It is not uncommon for marine life such as sea squirts, mollusks or certain species of zooplankton to be hiding among the sea grasses and other marine vegetation that manatees feed off of.
Part of the Food Chain
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In the food chain, manatees are called primary feeders, meaning they are herbivores that feed directly off of the water's vegetation, similar to mammals such as cattle or deer. Unlike the land mammals, however, manatees do not have any natural predators.
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