You’ve seen them. Or maybe you haven’t. Most people scrolling through images of a dugong for the first time think they’re looking at a manatee that’s had a bit of a rough day. They look weird. They’ve got these downward-facing snouts that look like a vacuum attachment and tails that belong on a dolphin, not a tubby sea cow.
It’s honestly a bit jarring.
If you go to a place like Marsa Alam in Egypt or the Ningaloo Reef in Australia, you might get lucky enough to see one in the wild. But mostly, we experience these animals through a screen. The problem is that a lot of what we see online is kind of misleading. We get these high-definition, perfectly color-graded shots that make them look like majestic, mystical spirits of the sea. In reality? They’re messy eaters. They spend most of their time vacuuming up seagrass and kicking up sand clouds that make for terrible photography.
The Manatee Confusion and Why the Tail Matters
People mix them up. All the time. If you’re looking at images of a dugong, the first thing you need to check is the tail. Manatees have that paddle-shaped, rounded tail—sort of like a giant beaver tail. Dugongs? They have flukes. If you saw just the back half of a dugong, you’d swear it was a shark or a dolphin. This evolutionary quirk makes them much more efficient swimmers in open water compared to their freshwater-loving cousins.
The snout is the other big giveaway. A dugong’s mouth is positioned almost entirely underneath its head. Why? Because they are "obligate bottom feeders." They don't snack on overhanging mangroves or surface plants like manatees do. They are strictly committed to the carpet of seagrass on the ocean floor. When you see a high-quality photo of a dugong "grazing," you’ll notice two trails of sand blowing out from their sides. They literally plow the ocean floor.
It’s not graceful. It’s effective.
What the Camera Doesn't Always Capture
Lighting underwater is a nightmare. As you go deeper, you lose red light first, then yellow. By the time you’re at ten meters, everything looks like a muddy blue-grey mess. This is why so many images of a dugong look slightly "off" in terms of color. Photographers have to use massive external strobes to bring back the natural skin tones of the animal, which is actually a pale cream or brownish-grey.
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But there’s a catch.
Dugongs are incredibly shy. Unlike the manatees in Florida's Crystal River that will practically swim up and ask for a belly rub, dugongs are notoriously skittish. In the Persian Gulf—which hosts the world’s second-largest population—they rarely let boats get close. Most of the clear, up-close images you see come from a very small handful of "resident" individuals who have become habituated to divers. "Dennis" in Egypt was a famous example. Because these specific animals are photographed thousands of times, our collective mental image of a dugong is actually based on about five or six specific "celebrity" animals.
This creates a bit of a bias. We think they’re all friendly and slow. In the wild, if a dugong hears a boat motor, it’s usually gone before you can even get your lens cap off. They can hit speeds of about 10 knots when they’re spooked. That’s fast for a 400-kilogram potato.
The Science Behind the Sightings
Let's get into the weeds for a second. Dugongs are the only strictly marine herbivorous mammals. They belong to the order Sirenia. Legend has it that lonely sailors used to mistake them for mermaids. Honestly? Those sailors must have been at sea for a very, very long time. Or they were hitting the rum pretty hard.
When you look at a close-up image of a dugong face, you see thick, bristly hairs called vibrissae. These aren't just whiskers; they’re sensory organs. Since the water they feed in is often murky from their own digging, they "see" the seagrass with their face. It’s a tactile world down there.
There’s also the "tusk" factor. Did you know male dugongs (and some old females) have tusks? They usually don’t erupt until puberty, and even then, they’re often hidden by the fleshy lip. If you find a photo where you can see little ivory points sticking out, you’re looking at an adult. These are used for social lekking and occasionally for fighting during the mating season. It’s a side of these "gentle" giants that rarely makes it into the viral Instagram clips.
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Why Australia is the Gold Standard for Photography
If you want the best images of a dugong, you look at aerial surveys from Shark Bay or the Great Barrier Reef. Australia is the last true stronghold for the species. Dr. Helene Marsh, a world-renowned expert on dugongs at James Cook University, has spent decades documenting their movements. Her research shows that they aren't just floating aimlessly; they follow highly specific "thermal corridors."
When the water gets too cold, they move. If the seagrass dies off due to a cyclone, they migrate hundreds of kilometers.
Aerial photography has been revolutionary for conservation here. From a drone, you can see the "feeding trails" they leave behind. They look like giant, erratic crop circles on the seabed. These photos allow scientists to count populations without stressing the animals out. It’s a lot more accurate than trying to count noses from a bobbing boat.
The Grim Reality of "Ghost" Images
Not all photos of these animals are pleasant. If you search for images of a dugong in Southeast Asia or parts of Africa, you’ll find a lot of heartbreaking stuff. Entanglement in gillnets is their biggest threat. Because they need to breathe air every few minutes, getting caught in a net is a death sentence.
Then there’s the poaching. In some cultures, dugong tears are believed to have magical properties. There are literally photos of captured dugongs with "tears" (which is actually just a mucus secretion to protect their eyes out of water) being collected in bottles. It's pseudoscience, but it drives a black market that keeps these animals in the "Vulnerable" category on the IUCN Red List.
How to Spot a "Fake" or Mislabeled Photo
The internet is great at confidentially being wrong. You will frequently see photos labeled as dugongs that are actually:
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- Manatees: Check the tail. Round = Manatee. Forked = Dugong.
- Steller’s Sea Cows: These are extinct. If the photo looks like a giant, 8-meter long dugong with bark-like skin, it’s a CGI reconstruction of a Steller’s Sea Cow.
- AI Generative Art: Look at the flippers. AI still struggles with the specific Five-finger bone structure inside a dugong’s flipper. If the flipper looks like a shapeless noodle, it’s probably a bot’s work.
Capturing Your Own Images Responsibly
If you ever find yourself in a spot like Busuanga in the Philippines, and you want to take your own images of a dugong, there is a right way to do it.
Don't freedive down on top of them. This is the fastest way to make them bolt. Most ethical tour operators will tell you to stay on the surface and wait. If the dugong feels comfortable, it will eventually come up for a breath. That’s your shot. Use a long focal length if you can.
Also, ditch the flash. Their eyes are sensitive, and a giant burst of artificial light in a dim environment is just rude. Focus on the texture of the skin. You’ll notice scars. Most adult dugongs are covered in them—from boat strikes, shark encounters, or scrap with other dugongs. These scars tell a story that a "clean" AI-generated image never could.
Moving Beyond the Screen
Photos are just a gateway. While looking at images of a dugong can spark an interest, the real value lies in the habitat they represent. Seagrass meadows are one of the most efficient carbon sinks on the planet. They bury carbon 40 times faster than tropical rainforests. When we protect the "sea cow," we’re actually protecting a massive chunk of the solution to climate change.
If you want to help, don't just "like" a photo. Support organizations like the SeaCow Trust or local conservancies in the Coral Triangle.
To get a better sense of how these animals actually move and live, your next step should be looking into "Baited Remote Underwater Video" (BRUV) footage. These are stationary cameras that capture natural behavior without a human presence. It’s the closest you’ll get to seeing a dugong being a dugong, rather than a dugong reacting to a photographer. You can also check the "Dugong & Seagrass Conservation Project" database for real-time tracking maps that show exactly where these populations are struggling and where they are thriving.