Dugong

ID points

• Broad down-turned snout, like a muzzle cut off flat
• Tail fin forked into a crescent, like a dolphin's
• Round plump body with no dorsal fin and smooth skin

Basics

Family

Dugongidae

Length

2.5–3.0 m

Depth

1-20 m

Regions

Indo-Pacific reefs

Distribution

Shallow tropical and subtropical seagrass beds

Habitat

Shallow seagrass beds

Diet

Seagrass

Easily confused with

Bottlenose DolphinShort thick bottle-shaped snout, with a crease where it meets the foreheadCommon DolphinAn hourglass patch of cream and pale grey on the flankNarwhalIn males the upper left canine grows out into a long spiral tusk

Fun fact

The dugong is a marine mammal that grazes on seagrass, and its crescent shaped tail fluke is the easy way to tell it apart from a manatee. Sailors who saw a female surface to nurse her calf took her for a mermaid, and the dugong is the origin of the mermaid legend. It can live for up to 70 years.