When people in the Song Dynasty were sailing, they saw "a woman on the sea", and "she" turned out to be...

According to the Records of Strange Things, a man named Cha Dao in the Song Dynasty saw a kind of fish while sailing. He described it as "a woman appeared on the sea, wearing a red skirt with two breasts and messy hair." In fact, this is the "mermaid" described by literati.

Dugong, this name may not be familiar to most people, but if you mention "mermaid", I believe many people will think of those beautiful legends and stories. In fact, dugong is the real "mermaid". Dugong is a mammal living in the ocean. It is called "mermaid" because it hugs its young with specialized flippers when breastfeeding, and its head and chest are exposed above the water, just like a person swimming in the water. The average length of an adult dugong is 2.7 meters, and the largest can reach 3.3 meters. They are shaped like whales and are spindle-shaped; their skin is relatively smooth and has sparse, soft, short hair. Although they have a huge body, they are shy by nature and will immediately escape if they are slightly frightened.

Dugongs, commonly known as "mermaids", are the only existing species in the family Dugongidae of the order Sirenia. Dugongs often live in shallow waters with dense seagrass along the coast and rarely swim to the open sea. Sometimes they can enter estuaries, but they do not live in fresh water. They often enter the bay with the tide at high tide to feed on seagrass, and then leave with the current at low tide. An adult dugong needs to eat 3.22 to 5.6 kg of dry seagrass every day. Unlike other manatees that can live in both fresh water and seawater, dugongs only live in seawater environments. Dugongs are distributed in 37 tropical and subtropical countries and regions within 26° north and south of the equator. Their global distribution area is considered to be very consistent with the main distribution area of ​​their main food, Potamogetonaceae and Hydrocharitaceae seagrass plants in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean.

Dugongs move slowly and never stray far from the coast. They swim slowly, usually about 2 nautical miles per hour, and even when escaping, they can only swim 5 nautical miles. Dugongs can reproduce all year round, with one baby born per litter, and the gestation period is about 330 days. The baby will surface to breathe the first breath of air immediately after being born underwater.

Dugong meat was considered a delicacy in the past. Humans used its upper incisors to make medicine to treat food poisoning. Humans also cruelly used its fat as fuel. Its skin is thick, so humans use it to make leather. Due to their narrow distribution area, their numbers are not large to begin with, and humans hunt them without restraint, so their numbers are now very rare. In addition to being listed as a vulnerable species by the IUCN, dugongs are also listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES); in my country, dugongs are listed as critically endangered species in the "China Red Species List" and as Class I protected animals in the "National Key Protected Wildlife List".

The seagrass resources in the Hepu Shatian Peninsula in Guangxi are rich, and historically it was the most densely populated dugong habitat in China. In order to wait for the early return of this rare marine species, we must protect the seagrass bed ecosystem here, restore the natural ecological environment of the dugong habitat, and maintain marine biodiversity. Mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grasses, and sands are a community of life. The interconnected land and water are beneficial to nature and, in the final analysis, to humans. Effective protection should be comprehensive protection, and wildlife habitats are the basis for protecting biodiversity. Many endangered species rely on specific habitats. Only by protecting habitats can people protect these endangered species. Therefore, effective protection is comprehensive protection, not just the protection of a single endangered species. What we want to protect is the natural ecology, because the ecosystem is more important than the species. The ecosystem carries the species, and the species carries the genes. These are the three levels of biodiversity protection.

In the future, the dugong reserve will vigorously restore the seagrass bed ecosystem, use practical actions to restore patches of "grassland" ecology for the ocean, provide a better habitat for rare marine animals such as dugongs, and wait for them to return home.

References:

[1] First Mate. Dugong: A beauty in name only[J]. Interesting facts about marine life.

[2] Qiu Guanglong et al. The relationship between seagrass ecosystem and endangered marine mammal dugong[J]. Marine Environmental Science.

[3] Yang Xiaojiao. "Mermaid", When Will I See You Again? [J]. Mingxiangyouyuan.

[4] Xu Pingyu. Dugong: The "mermaid" that once flourished in the Beibu Gulf[J].