The extinction of up to eight meters long and up to ten ton sirenians Manatee by humans only 27 years after their discovery middle of the 18th century. Century the dugong is the only remaining family of the swallow-tailed dugongs (Dugong dugon).
In contrast to the four representatives of the round tail manatees that on both sides of the Atlantic and its flowing rivers to are found in coastal waters, swallow-tailed manatees inhabit almost exclusively the sea coasts of the Indian Ocean including the Red Sea and parts of the Western Pacific. You can reach a length of three to a maximum of four meters and a weight of 400–500 kg on average, in some cases even up to 900 kg.
In many areas of their range swallow-tailed manatees are through hunting and especially through the destruction of seagrass meadows, their food basis, has become extremely rare and extinct in many places. The largest populations are animals off the coasts of Australia and in the Persian Gulf with estimated 7500 animals with tens of thousands. In the Southern Red Sea, there will be each populations with several hundred animals in the Eastern as well as on the Western side.
In Egypt, it takes some few animals only in the South. Currently only seven animals are known to hundreds of kilometres coastline between El Quseir and Marsa Alam, can be identified on the basis of numerous, caused by boat propellers scars on the body. The number actually living animals should be more at best a few animals so that the dugong in Egypt is highly threatened. Until early 2013 a dugong to sell meat was offered at the fish market of El Quseir.
