M e r m a i d s

Records from early American historians and ships logs have often mention the sightings of what appeared to be mermaids along the Eastern and Gulf coast of Florida. I suppose the brief sighting of a manatee in the bays and surfs may have had some resemblance to a person in the water. Especially for a sailor that has spent many long, lonely months at sea and whose eyes may have been damaged by sunlight. Having been in the water with manatees and swimming with them myself, it is very difficult for me to remotely associate the likes of them with long-haired female human, swimming about with a tail like a fish.

Men of the sea often spun tails of sea-monsters and dragons. Having seen some bizarre serpent-like animals that have since been discovered and photographed over the years I am more able to understand their imaginations going hay-wire. Isn’t it funny how we see what we want to see? Imagine seeing and hearing the steam blown from the top of a monstrous whales head as he comes up for air. From personal experience, I can say it appears like fire shooting up out of the sea as the orange-hued day breaking sunlight back-lights this spectacle. Like whales, manatee are also mammals that have to come up for air and often I have heard their air-pressured snorts before they were observed. Often the only thing observed is a set of big, fat, whiskered cheeks just clearing the surface of the water and just long enough to get fresh air before diving again.

Manatee live mostly in quiet waters and don’t do the showy things that dolphins and whales do. They eat sea grasses and when they come up in freshwater springs and rivers they use their whiskered lips to manipulate water hyacinths into their mouths. They use their lips similar to the way elephants use their trunks to feed themselves. When in captivity they eat about 2 bushels of head-lettuce a day. These are very slow animals and unable to move out of the way of careless, impatient boaters therefore most have boat prop scars on their backs. There are a few places in the South that rescue these 1½ ton creatures and return them to the wild. They are currently on the endangered list, however pressures from pleasure boaters are trying to change this classification. Manatees are great big lovable animals and often seek the company of humans when they don’t feel threatened.

Manatee don’t come out on land like their cousins the seals and walruses do. Their skin is thick and has deep wrinkles with very little hair. They do grow a lot of algae which provides some camouflage. At the age of 13 and with my interest in Indians increasing with every artifact I found, it was natural for me to spend much time in the shallows of lakes and rivers, especially after storms, looking for newly exposed Indian items. On one of these excursions, while wading in the shallows, I stepped up onto a hyacinth covered log to get a better view of the surroundings. Suddenly I was air-born. My “big log” took off for deeper water and left me on my back-side in the mud. You guessed it ! It was a manatee and I had rudely interrupted his sunbathing. I now examine all logs in the water for any signs of unidentified floating life.

The old adage that variety is the spice of life certainly holds true in the world of nature. If a person really spends time and studies nature the way our Creator intended, we would have a greater respect for all life. This in-turn gives us even greater respect and love for the God who created you and me.

Burney Tompkins

    - Uncle Burney