LIFE AT AND NEAR SURFACE 147 



mals, yet many true fish grow almost as 

 large, and several species of the seal family 

 may also be considered as giants of the sea. 



Our common seals and even the Sea Bears 

 or fur-seals, and the Sea Lions are far from 

 gigantic, but the great Walrus is a true giant 

 and in the Antarctic the huge Sea Elephants 

 grow to still more enormous size. All of the 

 seal family, however, are really land animals 

 which spend a large part of their life in the 

 water, and unlike the whales, they can remain 

 out of water for long periods and can travel 

 readily for considerable distances on land. 

 Still more remarkable than the seals, and in 

 some ways forming a sort of connecting link 

 between them and the whales, are the strange 

 creatures known as Manatees and Dugongs. 

 These are inhabitants of tropical waters and 

 while they can drag themselves upon the shores 

 to sun themselves, yet they spend nearly all 

 of their lives beneath the surface of the sea. 

 Unlike the whales and seals, which feed upon 

 animals and therefore belong to the carnivo- 

 rous group of mammals, the manatees and 

 dugongs are vegetarians and subsist upon sea- 



