Miami-Based Manatee Is Spotted in Chesapeake Bay

In an unusual northern foray, a manatee has made its way into the upper reaches of the Chesapeake Bay, authorities said last night.

The sighting, made Saturday in waters off of Havre de Grace, Md., was confirmed by photos, said Jennifer Dittmar of the National Aquarium.

Dittmar, the aquarium's coordinator for the marine animal rescue program, said the photographs also made it possible to identify the manatee by name: Ilya.

"That makes this a pretty unique case," she said last night.

Unique scarring on the mammal's tail made it possible to say he is Ilya, whose documentation dates to 1994, according to an aquarium blog.

Manatees, an endangered species, generally spend their time in the waters off Florida and the Caribbean islands.

All of Ilya's documented history, through 2006, has been in the Miami area, the blog said.

On Saturday afternoon, however, Ilya was spotted swimming among the boats of a Havre de Grace marina, Dittmar said. A Havre de Grace police officer photographed him.

People reported that he "meandered around" for a time, nibbled on some sea grasses and then "just left," Dittmar said.

Exactly what brought Ilya to Havre de Grace is not clear. But when summer warms the water, manatees occasionally come this far north in search of food.

They survive on sea grass, usually travel alone and can get along in salt water or in fresh.

Although manatees are not known to be aggressive, people who spot Ilya should stay away, according to the National Aquarium blog. It said federal law prohibits touching, disturbing or interacting with marine mammals.

Collisions with boats present a major threat to manatees, whose total number has been put at less than 4,000. Such collisions probably were responsible for the scarring by which Ilya was identified by federal officials in Florida, Dittmar said.

People were advised to remain at least 50 feet away for their safety as well as that of the marine creatures.

Adult manatees weigh at least 600 or 700 pounds, measure about 10 to 12 feet in length and, in the absence of the untoward, can live as long as 60 years.

Ilya was the first confirmed manatee sighting in the bay this year, Dittmar said.

Last year it was reported that two were sighted in a bay tributary near Baltimore.

Among the best known of wandering manatees was one that visited the bay several times in the mid-1990s. He was dubbed Chessie, in recognition of his seeming resemblance to the sea monster of Chesapeake lore.