A rare sighting of a dugong on the Far South Coast has left locals and tourists amazed – and sparked the interest of prestigious international journal, National Geographic.
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Beth Richards spotted the creature in Merimbula Bay last week, when she was with her family trying to catch a glimpse of the resident seal.
Fairfax Media’s coverage of Ms Richard’s story alerted National Geographic and the nature journal has published her account.
“At first we thought it was the seal swimming around but then it put its head up and it was obvious it was something else,” Ms Richards said.
“I had never seen a dugong in the wild before and couldn’t really believe it was right there, so close.”
She said the dugong was roughly two and a half metres long and “very fat”.
The dugong hung around near the Merimbula Causeway for around 20 minutes before it drifted into Top Lake with the tide.
Merimbula Aquarium manager Anthony Daly said it was the first he had heard of a dugong being sighted in Merimbula in around 25 years.
“We have heard rumours of dugongs in Tathra but in my 15 years of being here I have never heard of one in Merimbula Lake,” he said. “They are usually tropical and subtropical animals.”