Manatees

What we know

Manatees are in GTA 6. Rockstar named them first in its Game Informer interview, in a short list of native Florida species with flamingos, pelicans and alligators, and Polygon notes you can meet them in the water as part of Leonida's sea life.

The name reached the game before the animal did. In the Extended Look, IGN spotted people wearing turquoise "Manatees" sportswear, which it calls Vice City's version of the Miami Dolphins, and Polygon points to the same NFL-style jerseys. So Vice City's football team is the Manatees.

Where real manatees live

FWC, Florida's wildlife agency, describes manatees as animals of rivers, bays, canals, estuaries and coastal water that move freely between fresh and salt water, grazing on seagrass and freshwater plants. Cold is their weak spot:

What FWC says	Why it matters in Leonida
Manatees can't take long spells in water below about 68°F	They should cluster in warm, sheltered water rather than spread out
In winter they move to springs and the warm outflows of power plants	Industrial waterfronts may be a better bet than open sea
About 60% of the population now depends on industrial warm water	Rockstar's "accurately researched" animals may follow the same pattern

Our take: the manatee is the most Florida animal Rockstar could have picked, slow, gentle and everywhere in the state's canals and springs, and naming the football team after it shows Rockstar knows it. To find one, try calm canals, river mouths and harbours by kayak or on a slow boat rather than diving in open water; that is where real ones feed. VICE's summary of the new weather system mentions "clear winter skies", but nobody knows whether seasons change where animals gather. Whether you can pet a manatee is a fair question, and Polygon hopes so, but Rockstar has only shown dog petting.

What to watch for at launch

• Whether manatees appear in canals and rivers, or only on dives.
• Whether the Vice City Manatees play games you can watch or attend.
• Whether boats can hit them, and whether that hurts your Criminal Profile.