‘Seriously depleted throughout most of its range; needs to be brought under protective management’, is the Red Data Book's verdict on the West African manatee Trichechus senegalensis. In Nigeria the author, who has worked there for many years, has only managed to see a few with great difficulty. She suggests the ‘mermaid’ is ideal for ‘aquatic ranching’, for the meat is so good—hence the species's depletion—that it is in great demand. The first need is to find out how many are left and where they are. But the manatee has none of the glamour of a tiger or a rhino; who, the author asks, would want to pay for the conservation of this unattractive but harmless and useful grazer of aquatic plants?