A giant dugong (seacow), which was entangled in a fisherman’s net in Tamil Nadu’s Thanjavur, was safely released back into the sea on Sunday.
Twenty fishermen from Adhiramapattinam had gone into the sea on Sunday morning, when they saw a large animal entangled in the net of a fisherman, Chellathurai, near Thanjavur’s Keechathottam.
When they examined it, they found it was a dugong, weighing 800 kilograms and eight feet long. The fishermen then informed the Pattukottai forest department, and with the help of forest department officials, they released the crocodile back into the sea.
Notably, dugongs are the only surviving members of the Dugongidae Family. Dugongs resemble species of the order sirenidae, which are manatees but differ in having a dolphin-like tail fin.
Dugongs have been protected by the Tamil Nadu government and fishermen have been ordered to release any dugong trapped in their nets back into the sea.
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