Observations on the behaviour of the dugong (Dugong dugon Müller, 1776) from waters of the Lease Islands, eastern Indonesia

Abstract

A small population of dugongs was discovered in coastal waters of the Lease islands in eastern Indonesia. Studies on behaviour and feeding ecology revealed information on the interaction with seagrass meadows, modes of surfacing and submergence times and behaviour in the presence of scuba divers. Regular concentrated feeding was observed in a grazing sward at a subtidal monospecific Halophila ovalis meadow, confirming earlier observations of regular recropping by dugongs of grazing swards, covered by monospecific Halodule uninervis, inside an intertidal multi-species meadow.