Manatee Spotted in Stony Brook Harbor

A family tells Newsday that they spotted a manatee while fishing at Smithtown town park on Long Island. The family is pretty certain, because they had lived in Florida for two years where they saw the large mammals all the time. Tara Inzone said, "I was untangling my line at the end of the dock and I heard a spouting sound -- a psffft. I looked over and I said 'What the hell is that?' My husband said 'It's a dolphin.' I said 'That's not a dolphin. Look at how wide it is.' I thought it was a whale at first. Then its tail came up -- and it was a manatee tail. It was wide and distinctive." The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it's "not uncommon to see them pretty far up the East Coast," as manatees will chase the food supply. The last time a manatee was spotted in these parts, it was two years ago in the Hudson River.