Manatees (
family Trichechidae,
genus Trichechus) are large, fully aquatic, mostly
herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as
sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living species in the order
Sirenia: the
Amazonian manatee (
Trichechus inunguis), the
West Indian manatee (
Trichechus manatus), and the
West African manatee (
Trichechus senegalensis). They measure up to long, weigh as much as , and have paddle-like flippers. The name
manatí comes from the
Taíno, a
pre-Columbian people of the
Caribbean, meaning "breast".