Ceelo
- Tag Status
- Active
- Last Date Tagged
- August 18, 2026
- Gender
- Male
- Tagging Location
- Broad Creek, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Please note: The presentation of data here does not constitute publication, and the researchers who contributed this data retain all intellectual property rights. Map created by Clearwater Marine Aquarium using Google Maps API. Data & Map © CMA. Use of this map or data without permission is prohibited without the written consent of the researcher. This map is automatically updated with new points each day. The manatee icon location point represents the most recent location received for this manatee. If the most recent point is more than two months old, then the manatee most likely lost their tag ending our ability to track their movement.
Ceelo’s Story
A full health assessment was conducted on an eight-foot-long subadult female manatee named Ceelo on August 18, 2026, in Broad Creek, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina through the collaborative effort between Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute (CMARI) and Georgia Aquarium (GAI), with the assistance from many other partners to include Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Jacksonville Field Office and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Savannah Refuge, SeaWorld Orlando, Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, North Carolina State University, Savannah State University, and University of North Carolina Wilmington. Ceelo received an excellent ranking during her health checkup from GAI veterinarian staff and was outfitted with a GPS satellite tag by CMARI to closely monitor her travels as part of our Northern Atlantic Coast Manatee Movement study. This was the second time our crew encountered Ceelo. She received her first health assessment when she was with her mother, Larmore, in Cumberland Island, Georgia on May 1, 2025. Ceelo was observed with her mother in the Hilton Head area throughout the summer and fall of 2025. The project will collect crucial habitat use and health data to help manage threats to manatees that migrate northward into coastal Georgia and the Carolinas during the warmer months of the year. Working in cooperation with state and federal agencies, data collected from this project will also be utilized to gain a better understanding of how manatees are adapting their movement and use of habitat after the loss of food sources along the east coast of Florida which was a major contributing factor to the manatee Unusual Mortality Event in recent years.
All manatee work was conducted under USFWS Research Permit # MA37808A-2.