Bibliography Record

x
 
 Etheridge, Kay; Rathbun, Galen B.; Powell, James Arthur, Jr.; Kochman, Howard I. (detail)
   
1985
Consumption of aquatic plants by the West Indian manatee.
Jour. Aquatic Plant Manage. 23(1): 21-25. 6 tabs.
–Feeding experiments (using Hydrilla and Vallisneria) and measurements of chewing rates in wild and captive Florida manatees indicated that adults can eat about 7.1% of body weight per day in wet weight of Hydrilla in 5 hours of chewing time. At this rate the manatees wintering at Crystal River fall short of controlling the growth of Hydrilla there by at least an order of magnitude, and manatees in general appear inefficient and impractical as a means of aquatic weed control.

Related Index Records (8)

Behavior, Ingestive
(SEE ALSO: Behavior, Epimeletic; Behavior, Et-epimeletic; Food; Mastication; Milk)
  x 1985 Etheridge et al. (TM; chewing rate & time spent feeding; 21-23.)
Captivity, Sirenians in
(SEE ALSO: Hunting and Capture; Weed Control)
  x 1985 Etheridge et al. (TML; Florida; feeding experiments; 21-23.)
Florida
  x 1985 Etheridge et al. (TML; Crystal R.; plant consumption; 21-25.)
Food Plants: Hydrilla verticillata
(Hydrocharitaceae)
  x * 1985 Etheridge et al. (TM; Crystal R., Florida; consumption rate & feeding experiments; 21-25.)
Food Plants: Vallisneria americana
(Hydrocharitaceae)
  x 1985 Etheridge et al. (TM; Florida; consumption rate; 21-23.)
Mastication
(SEE ALSO: Behavior, Ingestive)
  x 1985 Etheridge et al. (TM; chewing rate & food consumption; 21-25.)
Trichechus manatus Linnaeus, 1758
  x 1985 Etheridge et al. (Florida; aquatic plant consumption; 21-25.)
Weed Control
  x * 1985 Etheridge et al. (TML; Florida; measurements of plant consumption; manatees considered inefficient control agents; 21-25.)

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