The main water treatment plant in Guyana has four manatees
that keep storage canals clear of weeds. The natural source
for warm waters for manatees during the winter is spring fed
rivers. The West Indian Manatee migrates into Florida rivers
such as the Crystal River, The Homosassa River and The
Chassawohitzka River. The head springs of these rivers
maintain a water temperature of 72 degrees year round.
During the winter months, November to March, approximately
400 West Indian Manatees (According to the National
Wildlife Refuge Service) congregate in the rivers in Citrus
County, Florida.
Manatees have been spotted as far north as Cape Cod, and
as recently as the late summer of 2006, one made it up to
New York City and Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay, as
cited by the Boston Globe. According to Memphis,
Tennessee's Commercial Appeal newspaper, one manatee
was spotted in the Wolf River harbor near the Mississippi
River in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, on October 23,
2006, though it was later found dead ten miles downriver in
McKellar Lake.