One of Floridaâs most iconic creatures is under siege. The stateâs official marine mammal â the West Indian Manatee â is suffering through a grim year. Itâs expected, as soon as next week, to be the deadliest on record. Why? The most likely answer is starvation. Thereâs a manatee famine in some of the Sunshine Stateâs most ecologically important estuaries. The worst year for manatees wasnât that long ago. In 2013, 830 manatees perished for a variety of reasons. That followed a horrible 2011 when hundreds of the sirenians died in the Indian River Lagoon in Brevard County following a massive die-off of seagrass caused by a brown tide.