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TAMPA - The first call came in about 9 a.m. Monday, reporting a body in the bay just off the Courtney Campbell Parkway. The next caller described it as a beached dolphin or maybe even a whale, police said.
Turns out, it was just nature, and springtime. A female manatee was being courted by a group of about 10 males, all vying for her affections.
A crowd of onlookers formed. Parents pointed, and cell phones and handhelds snapped images of the manatee herd frolicking just offshore in 2 to 3 feet of water. Horns blared as traffic slowed along the bridge near Ben T. Davis Beach. About 500 people had stopped by noon, said Luis Valquez of the Tampa Police marine unit.
At one point, the manatees thrashed around, momentarily creating the effect of a white water fountain. Then they dispersed, only to return.
"Sometimes it looks violent," said Virginia Edmonds, assistant curator of Florida mammals at Lowry Park Zoo. During breeding season, which begins in May, the zoo gets many calls from people concerned that a manatee looks like it's suffering.
Often, the zoo explains, they're just mating.
Otherwise, Edmonds said, "It's not often that you see a herd of them. They're not that social usually."
About 1,000 of the estimated 3,300 endangered manatees in Florida live in shallow waters in the Tampa Bay area, Edmonds said. Females with calves sometimes travel in small herds, but males are usually solitary and play no role in raising calves.
But these males had sensed a female's presence.
"If she's ready to breed, the males know that and want to pass on their genes," Edmonds said.
Sheri Etchemendy, a researcher with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, was on the scene Monday, documenting the manatees' scars. Each time one of the creatures rose out of the water, she snapped a photo.
Most Florida manatees are identified by their scar patterns from propellers or boat hulls, she said.
Carol Mann, 59, whose vehicle sports a manatee license plate, stopped to see what was happening Monday, along with her husband, Dan Klinke, 51.
"We've never seen anything like this before," Mann said. "We thought it was like a beached whale or something."
They strolled along the edge of the bay, gazing out at the herd and talking of a trip to Crystal River to swim with manatees.
"What a nice way to spend a day," Klinke said.
- Elisabeth Dyer can be reached at edyer@sptimes.com or 813 226-3321.