A manatee? In Mashpee?
That’s right, one of the large marine mammals was recently spotted in the waters off the Cape Cod town — the first time since 2016 that one has been seen in Massachusetts.
Multiple people reported seeing the manatee late last month.
Jennifer Hines Sullivan said she was paddleboarding on July 26 at Popponesset Island in the New Seabury section of Mashpee when she came upon the sea creature in the Waterway Loop, which is very grassy.
“The dock hand at the marina told me there was a manatee out there and I was a bit skeptical. But I hopped on my board to go see and sure enough there it was just floating around. I hope it found its way to open water.”
“Last summer, I saw a sea turtle on the other side of Popponesset Island, and I thought that was the best paddling day of the year,” she added. “But this totally eclipsed that.”
Mashpee resident Stevie Petrucci told the Cape Cod Times that he saw the manatee that same day.
“I just noticed something very weird and strange-looking that I’d never really seen before, so I walked over. It took my brain, like, three seconds to realize what it was,” he said. “I was like, ‘Holy crap. It’s a manatee. What are you doing up here?'”
The West Indian manatee is a gentle, plant-eating giant sometimes known as a sea cow that normally lives in the warmer waters of the Southeastern states and the Caribbean. They can weigh as much as 1,200 pounds and can live as long as 65 years.
This is the first time a manatee has been sighted off Cape Cod since 2016, when a pregnant manatee was captured off Washburn Island and later released in Florida. A manatee was seen in Rhode Island just two years ago.