A family of manatees was spotted swimming in the San Juan River, right in the center of the city of Matanzas, in a video posted on Facebook by the user Dariel Vicedo, which quickly captured the attention of thousands of people.
The images show the stretch of the river between Narváez and Comercio streets, a central and busy area of the so-called City of Bridges.
"The apparent calm of the surface does not allow one to guess what is happening beneath it," narrates the video, as a huge shadow moves between both shores and some nostrils surface to breathe.
What is particularly striking is the indifference of those present: "Even the fishermen seem oblivious to it," the narrative notes, before revealing that "a family of manatees plays peacefully in the calm waters of the San Juan River."
The sighting is not the first in that same river.
In March 2022, a family of manatees was spotted in the San Juan River in Matanzas, and students from the "Julio Pino Machado" school had reported four specimens in the area approximately two years earlier, suggesting that the river is part of the typical movement corridor for these animals between the bay and inland areas.
Sightings in Cuba have multiplied in recent years.
In August 2023, a manatee was spotted under the Iron Bridge in Havana, and in September of the same year, manatees surprised residents in the Bay of Matanzas.
Similarly, in October 2025, scientists confirmed their presence in the Treasure Lagoon, in the Zapata Swamp, historically known as "Manatee Lagoon."
The Antillean manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus) is classified as critically endangered in Cuba, where only a few hundred individuals survive throughout the archipelago. Internationally, the International Union for Conservation of Nature includes it in its Red List as an endangered species.
In Cuba, the species is protected under Resolution 160 of Species of Special Importance.
However, it continues to face serious threats: poaching, incidental capture in fishing nets, pollution, habitat loss, and collisions with boats put its survival at risk.
In June 2020, at least four individuals were spotted near La Isleta, in a protected bay ecosystem, indicating a more widespread presence of the species in Cuban waters than previously thought.
Conservationists interpret this pattern of recurrent sightings as a hopeful sign of partial recovery of the species in some areas of the country, although they warn that the population remains critically low and that any disturbance to their habitat could have irreversible consequences.
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