A fifth species, the Stellar's sea cow, was hunted to extinction by 1768. This unique mammal of the Bering Sea grew to more than 30 feet long and ate marine algae. Their closest relatives are elephants and small Asian and African mammals known as hyraxes. The Florida manatee is found primarily along the coast of Florida. Most adult manatees are about 10 feet long and weigh 800 to 1,200 pounds, although some manatees have grown larger than 12 feet and weighed 3,500 pounds.
Manatees have a tough, wrinkled brown to gray skin that is continually being sloughed off.
Hair is distributed sparsely over the body. With stiff whiskers around its mouth, the manatee's face looks like a walrus without tusks. The manatee maneuvers through the water by moving its paddle-like tail up and down and steering with its flippers. Manatees are very agile for large animals, sometimes somersaulting and doing barrel rolls in the water. Although the manatee can remain underwater for as long as 12 minutes, the average time is 4 minutes.