sirenia

Si*re"ni*a, n. pl. Etym: [NL.] (Zoöl.) Defn: An order of large aquatic herbivorous mammals, including the manatee, dugong, rytina, and several fossil genera. Note: The hind limbs are either rudimentary or wanting, and the front ones are changed to paddles. They have horny plates on the front part of the jaws, and usually flat-crowned molar teeth. The stomach is complex and the intestine long, as in other herbivorous mammals. See Cetacea (b).

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