Dear MARMAM community, On behalf of the Editorial board of the Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals (LAJAM), led by our Editor-in-Chief Dr. Miriam Marmontiel and our Managing Editor Dr. Daniel González-Socoloske, I would like to announce the publication of a Special Issue on the Biology and Conservation of Manatees. As many of you may already know, LAJAM is an open access peer-reviewed scientific electronic journal that publishes articles on research, management and conservation biology of aquatic mammals in Latin America. Guest editors for the special issue were Drs Carol Meirelles(MMRU/UBC), Rodrigo Amaral (IFAM), João Carlos G. Borges (FMA), and Nataly Castelblanco-Martínez (ECOSUR). This special issue brings you ten articles and three notes, and these are: Editorial Meirelles et al. 2024. Manatees across borders: Introduction to the special issue on the biology and conservation of manatees. Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals, 19(1), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.5597/lajam00316 Articles Do Val et al. 2024. Influence of sex and home range on released Antillean manatees’ behavior in Brazil. Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals, 19(1), 7-14. https://doi.org/10.5597/lajam00325 Deeks et al. 2024. Proximity to freshwater and seagrass availability mediate the impacts of climate change on the distribution of the West Indian manatee. Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals, 19(1), 15-31. https://doi.org/10.5597/lajam00321 Allen et al. 2024. Conservation challenges and emerging threats to the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus) in Florida and Puerto Rico. Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals, 19(1), 32-41. https://doi.org/10.5597/lajam00324 Farinelli et al. 2024. Quantifying minimum survey effort to reliably detect Amazonian manatees using an unoccupied aerial vehicle (UAV) at an ex situ soft-release site. Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals, 19(1), 42-60. https://doi.org/10.5597/lajam00319 Corona-Figueroa & Cifuentes-Espinosa 2024. Perceptions on the distribution, threats, strandings, and conservation of the Antillean manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus) in the Río Dulce National Park, Izabal, Guatemala. Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals, 19(1), 61-71. https://doi.org/10.5597/lajam00328 Pinheiro et al. 2024. Morphological analysis of the digestive tract of Antillean manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus, Linnaeus, 1758) in northeast Brazil. Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals, 19(1), 72-81. https://doi.org/10.5597/lajam00326 Cubero-Pardo et al. 2024. Antillean manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus) occurrence and grazing spots in three protected areas of Costa Rica. Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals, 19(1), 82-90. https://doi.org/10.5597/lajam00329 Arevalo-Gonzalez et al. 2024. Stranding reports of the Antillean manatee in the middle Magdalena Basin, Colombia 2011 to 2023. Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals, 19(1), 91-99. https://doi.org/10.5597/lajam00330 Moreira-Lima et al. 2024. Searching for relations between manatee Trichechus manatus manatus calf strandings and environmental degradation in two Northeastern Brazil estuaries. Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals, 19(1), 100-111. https://doi.org/10.5597/lajam00332 Choi-Lima et al. 2024. Density and abundance estimation of West Indian manatee, Trichechus manatus, between the states of Ceará and Piauí, Northeast Brazil, using active acoustics. Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals, 19(1), 112-119. https://doi.org/10.5597/lajam00333 Notes da Silva et al. 2024. Oral cleft in an Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis) (Mammalia, Sirenia). Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals, 19(1), 120-124. https://doi.org/10.5597/lajam00320 Meirelles et al. 2024. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire: Hypotheses for the high incidence of West Indian manatee calf strandings on the Brazilian semi-arid coast. Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals, 19(1), 125-132. https://doi.org/10.5597/lajam00323 Ramos et al. 2024. Antillean manatees feed on floating Halophila baillonii in Placencia Lagoon, Belize. Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals, 19(1), 133-140. https://doi.org/10.5597/lajam00322 Please click the following link to have full access to the publications: https://lajamjournal.org/index.php/lajam/announcement/view/31 We hope you enjoy reading these contributions, and we also invite you to consider our journal to submit your next manuscripts: https://lajamjournal.org/index.php/lajam/about/submissions<https://lajamjournal.org/index.php/lajam/about/submissions%EF%BF%BC> Kind regards, Carol Meirelles Carol Meirelles, PhD (she/her) Research Associate Marine Mammal Research Unit Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC, Canada