Dugong
Dugong dugon
- Usual depth0–7 m
- Water temperature21–28 °C
- Best monthsJanuary, November, and December
- How commonCommon
Photo credit: (c) Lord Mountbatten, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
About this species
The dugong is a marine mammal. It is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest modern relative, Steller's sea cow, was hunted to extinction in the 18th century.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Dugong”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 1,186 records
- February: 727 records
- March: 182 records
- April: 507 records
- May: 214 records
- June: 125 records
- July: 263 records
- August: 1,071 records
- September: 999 records
- October: 816 records
- November: 1,250 records
- December: 1,259 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 0–7 m · Deepest record: 20 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 21–28 °C
Photos
(c) Wynand Uys, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Gergely Nigg, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist 
(c) Jacek Pietruszewski, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Dr. Guido Bohne, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist 
(c) Wynand Uys, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Ewout Knoester, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Dugong, dugong, Dugong mudip, Sea Cow, Sea Pig
Names in 8 more languages
- German
- Dugong, Gabelschwanzseekuh, Seekuh, Seeschwein
- Spanish
- Dugon, Dugón
- French
- Dugong
- Indonesian
- Duyong, Duyung
- Japanese
- ジュゴン
- Korean
- 듀공
- Thai
- พะยูน
- Simplified Chinese
- 儒艮
Other scientific names: Halicore dugong, Halicore halicore, Trichechus dugon, Trichechus dugong
Sources and credits
Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).
- Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
- Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
- Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
- 17,972 open-data records from 1776 to 2023.
- Species data updated October 26, 2026.
Log what you see on your next dive
The free DiveHive diver app keeps your logbook with every sighting and shows what lives at the site you dive next.