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===Diet=== Manatees are [[herbivory|herbivores]] and eat over 60 different freshwater (e.g., floating hyacinth, [[Pontederia|pickerel weed]], [[Alternanthera philoxeroides|alligator weed]], [[Pistia|water lettuce]], [[hydrilla]], water celery, [[Chara (alga)|musk grass]], [[mangrove]] leaves) and saltwater plants (e.g., sea grasses, [[Halodule wrightii|shoal grass]], [[Syringodium filiforme|manatee grass]], [[seagrass|turtle grass]], [[Ruppia|widgeon grass]], sea clover, and marine algae).<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lefebvre|first1=Lynn W.|last2=Provancha|first2=Jane A.|last3=Slone|first3=Daniel H.|last4=Kenworthy|first4=W. Judson|date=2017|title=Manatee grazing impacts on a mixed species seagrass bed|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24898254|journal=Marine Ecology Progress Series|volume=564|pages=29β45|doi=10.3354/meps11986|jstor=24898254|bibcode=2017MEPS..564...29L|issn=0171-8630|access-date=2021-06-16|archive-date=2024-01-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240127183711/https://www.jstor.org/stable/24898254|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Domning|first=Daryl P.|date=1981|title=Sea Cows and Sea Grasses|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2400692|journal=Paleobiology|volume=7|issue=4|pages=417β420|doi=10.1017/S009483730002546X|jstor=2400692|bibcode=1981Pbio....7..417D|s2cid=88809167|issn=0094-8373|access-date=2021-06-16|archive-date=2024-01-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240127183710/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2400692|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Using their divided upper lip, an adult manatee will commonly eat up to 10%β15% of their body weight (about 50 kg) per day. Consuming such an amount requires the manatee to graze for up to seven hours a day.<ref name="Journey North">{{cite web|url=http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/manatee/AdaptationsMouth.html|title=Manatee|publisher=Journey North|year=2003|access-date=April 29, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140429180435/http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/manatee/AdaptationsMouth.html|archive-date=April 29, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> To be able to cope with the high levels of cellulose in their plant based diet, manatees utilize hindgut fermentation to help with the digestion process.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Marine Mammal Physiology|last=Castellini and Mellish|first=Michael and Jo-Ann|publisher=CRC Press|year=2016|isbn=978-1-4822-4267-6|location=Boca Raton, Florida|pages=101}}</ref> Manatees have been known to eat small numbers of fish from nets.<ref name="powell">{{cite journal| last = Powell| first = James| title = Evidence for carnivory in manatee (''Trichechus manatus'')| journal =Journal of Mammalogy| volume = 59| issue = 2|page = 442|year = 1978| doi = 10.2307/1379938| jstor = 1379938}}</ref>
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