The Florida DEP is considering steps to protect them from future red tides. You can do that by pushing freshwater into an area with a lot of red tide. The total manatee population now stands at around 2,200. There are three species of manatee and one of dugong. The fifth species in the Sirenian order, Steller's sea cow, become extinct in the 18th century.
All sirenians have large, elongated heads with prominent snouts.
Their front flippers are used to dig and collect food and then to carry it to their mouths. Dugongs live in coastal waters, and their mouths are adapted to feeding on sea grass and other water plants. Manatees inhabit rivers, estuaries, and coastal waters, and their less-specialized mouths allow them to eat a wider variety of vegetation than dugongs. Manatees and dugongs also differ in their internal anatomy. Myths of the Manatee Homesick mariners often described sightings of mother manatees or dugongs lying on their backs, cradling their young in their flippers to suckle.