Life Sciences Commons^™

Detection Of Free-Ranging West Indian Manatees Trichechus Manatus Using Side-Scan Sonar, Daniel Gonzalez-Socoloske, Leon David Olivera-Gomez, Robert E. Ford

Daniel Gonzalez-Socoloske

Turbid and tannin-stained waterways are difficult habitats to study and present problems with respect to the management of aquatic fauna, and especially of endangered and cryptic animals such as manatees Trichechus spp. Linnaeus. Throughout much of the range of the extant trichechid species (T. inunguis, T. manatus, and T. senegalensis), the scientific approaches that are used successfully to document the status of the Florida subspecies (T. m. latirostris) are not feasible, due either to constraints associated with habitat or to the high costs involved. We examined the use of side-scan sonar as a novel way to acoustically detect free-ranging West …