A dead manatee was spotted off the Texas coast over the weekend but sightings of the sea cows are still rare for the area.
David Tullos told KSAT he was out fishing with his dad and his business partner on Sunday when they spotted the aquatic mammal floating just outside Red Fish Bay near Aransas Pass.
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“We were heading to a different spot, had just gotten up to speed and I guess me and my business partner Jeff both got a glimpse of it at the same time and gave each other a what the hell look so I shut the boat down and turned around,” Tullos told KSAT in a Facebook message.
Tullos said he initially thought it was a dead whale because of the coloring, while his dad thought it was a shark and his business partner thought it was a dolphin.
“We got a little closer and I saw his front flipper then realized what it was,” Tullos said. “None of us had ever seen one in person so we circled it a few times took a few pictures and left.”
The fisherman said when the group got to the next fishing spot, he called Texas Parks and Wildlife Game Wardens to notify them of the manatee’s body.
Manatees are typically found in estuaries, canals, and slow-moving rivers, and are concentrated in Florida where the water is warmer.
According to the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network, officials were unable to locate the animal’s body and therefore, unable to determine how it died.