articleA rare wildlife encounter with a West Indian manatee and an environmentally-aware crew temporarily halted a $64 million ferry project on the Texas Gulf Coast this summer . "TxDOT crews knew what to do when they saw the majestic sea cow swimming nearby," according to the Texas Department of Transportation. Texas DOT officials said the manatee , which was not in distress, lingered for several hours near the ferry operations before heading west toward Corpus Christi Bay. The Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network (TXMMSN) said it received multiple sightings of manatees this summer, including in Surfside, Quintana and Port Aransas. "These gentle West Indian Manatees usually spend winters in Florida , but sometimes migrate all the way to Texas in summer," according to the TXMMSN.