What does sirenia mean?

Definitions for sirenia
sire·ni·a

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word sirenia.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. Sirenia, order Sirenianoun

    an animal order including: manatees; dugongs; Steller's sea cow

Wikipedia

  1. Sirenia

    The Sirenia (), commonly referred to as sea cows or sirenians, are an order of fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals that inhabit swamps, rivers, estuaries, marine wetlands, and coastal marine waters. The extant Sirenia comprise two distinct families: Dugongidae (the dugong and the now extinct Steller's sea cow) and Trichechidae (manatees, namely the Amazonian manatee, West Indian manatee, and West African manatee) with a total of four species. The Protosirenidae (Eocene sirenians) and Prorastomidae (terrestrial sirenians) families are extinct. Sirenians are classified in the clade Paenungulata, alongside the elephants and the hyraxes, and evolved in the Eocene 50 million years ago (mya). The Dugongidae diverged from the Trichechidae in the late Eocene or early Oligocene (30–35 mya).Sirenians grow to between 2.5 and 4 metres (8.2 and 13.1 feet) in length and 1,500 kilograms (3,300 pounds) in weight. The recently extinct Steller's sea cow was the largest known sirenian to have lived, reaching lengths of 10 metres (33 feet) and weights of 5 to 10 tonnes (5.5 to 11.0 short tons).Sirenians have a large, fusiform body to reduce drag through the water and heavy bones that act as ballast to counteract the buoyancy of their blubber. They have a thin layer of blubber and consequently are sensitive to temperature fluctuations, which cause migrations when water temperatures dip too low. Sirenians are slow-moving, typically coasting at 8 kilometres per hour (5.0 miles per hour), but they can reach 24 kilometres per hour (15 miles per hour) in short bursts. They use their strong lips to pull out seagrasses, consuming 10–15% of their body weight per day. While breathing, sirenians hold just their nostrils above the surface, sometimes standing on their tails to do so. They typically inhabit warm, shallow, coastal waters, or rivers. They are mainly herbivorous, but have been known to consume animals such as birds and jellyfish. Males typically mate with more than one female and may gather in leks to mate. Sirenians are K-selected, displaying parental care. The meat, oil, bones, and skins are commercially valuable. Mortality is often caused by direct hunting by humans or other human-induced causes, such as habitat destruction, entanglement in fishing gear, and watercraft collisions. Steller's sea cow was driven to extinction due to overhunting in 1768.

ChatGPT

  1. sirenia

    Sirenia, also known as sea cows, is an order of fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals that inhabit swamps, rivers, estuaries, marine wetlands, and coastal marine waters. The order includes four extant species: the dugong and three species of manatees. Sirenians are characterized by their large bodies, forked caudal fins, and paddle-like flippers.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Sirenia

    an order of large aquatic herbivorous mammals, including the manatee, dugong, rytina, and several fossil genera

  2. Etymology: [NL.]

Wikidata

  1. Sirenia

    The Sirenia are an order of fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals that inhabit swamps, rivers, estuaries, marine wetlands, and coastal marine waters. Four species are living, in two families and genera. These are the dugong and manatees. Sirenia also include Steller's sea cow, extinct since the 18th century, and a number of taxa known only from fossils. The order evolved during the Eocene, more than 50 million years ago. Sirenia, commonly sirenians, are also referred to by the common name sirens, deriving from the sirens of Greek mythology. This comes from a legend about their discovery, involving lonely sailors mistaking them for mermaids. "Sea cow" is also the name for a hippopotamus in Afrikaans. In Germanic languages, the word See can mean either a body of fresh or salt water, so this follows from the species inhabiting lakes in southern Africa rather than the sea itself.

U.S. National Library of Medicine

  1. Sirenia

    An order of heavy-bodied, slow-moving, completely aquatic, herbivorous mammals. The body is fusiform, plump, and hairless, except for bristles on the snout. Hindlimbs are absent, the forelimbs are modified to flippers, and the tail is a horizontal fluke. (From Scott, Concise Encyclopedia Biology, 1996)

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  1. sirenia

    Song lyrics by sirenia -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by sirenia on the Lyrics.com website.

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of sirenia in Chaldean Numerology is: 9

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of sirenia in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

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"sirenia." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 Nov. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/sirenia>.

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