The Florida manatee is lovingly nicknamed the sea cow; the aquatic mammal tips the scales at more than 1,000 lbs. To maintain its rotund figure, the manatee consumers 10 to 15 percent of its body weight in food every day.
Florida manatees are primarily found along the state's 1,200 miles of coastline. The mammals graze through more than 60 species of plants found in and along the state's shallow rivers, canals, bays and estuaries. That kind of high-fiber diet requires approximately 150 feet of intestine, and a special hind-gut to break down the cellulose.
Manatees are at home in fresh, brackish and saltwater habitats. The creatures often migrate with the seasons, moving to warmer waters in the Florida Keys or freshwater springs. The manatee's diet -- various grasses and algae, as well mangrove leaves and water hyacinths -- varies based on location.
Manatees that frequent fresh water eat a diet that includes alligatorweed, water hyacinth, pennywort, duckweed, parrot feather, spatterdock, pickerel weed and water lettuce.
Red algae, shoal grass, hydrilla and turtle grass are among the delicacies upon which manatees graze. These plants are often found in the brackish waters of Florida's coastal estuaries.
A manatee that feeds in Florida's saltwater environment depends on seagrasses for much of its daily nutritional requirements. Favorites include shoal, star, manatee and turtle grasses.
