Miami Wildlife Guide

Manatees, sea turtles and bottlenose dolphins all live in Miami-Dade waters, American crocodiles reach the northern end of their range in south Florida, and nonnative green iguanas were first reported in Florida in Miami-Dade County.

Virginia Key shows the habitat mix inside city limits. The island is owned jointly by the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County and holds more than 300 acres of mangroves, about 16 acres of maritime hammock and 18 acres of beach and dune communities (City of Miami, Virginia Key Beach North Point Park). The 16 acre hammock is a habitat the city calls one of the rarest and most endangered plant communities in the county because of coastal development. The seagrass beds off its shore are mainly turtle grass, manatee grass and shoal grass, and the city describes them as dense and healthy.

Biscayne National Park lies within sight of Miami and is 95 percent water, according to the National Park Service. Loggerhead, green and hawksbill turtles are all commonly observed in park waters.

The Miami wildlife section has four deeper guides: the Miami American crocodile guide, the Miami dolphins guide, the Miami manatees guide and the Miami sea turtles guide. Each section below answers the common question and names the guide that goes further.

Manatees live in Miami-Dade County year-round, and in cold weather they shelter in warm canals (Miami-Dade County manatee protection).

Manatees suffer from the cold when water temperatures fall below 68 degrees, and during winter large numbers move south or to springs and heated power plant discharges, according to Miami-Dade County. The county asks people not to disturb a mother manatee with a nursing calf.

The state adopted manatee protection and boating safety rules for Miami-Dade in 1991, and county, state and federal authorities approved the Miami-Dade County Manatee Protection Plan in 1995 (Miami-Dade County). The plan traces back to October 1989, when the Florida Governor and Cabinet directed 13 key counties to develop manatee protection plans, a directive Florida Statute made a requirement in 2002. Protections for Florida manatees were first enacted in 1893. The county has since completed the first revision of that 1995 plan, which guides where new or expanded marine facilities in Miami-Dade may be sited. Vessel collisions are the leading known cause of manatee deaths in Florida and have been the leading cause in Miami-Dade County over the past decade.

A sick, injured, dead or tagged manatee in Miami is reported to the FWC Wildlife Alert number, 1-888-404-3922, or by dialing *FWC or #FWC from a cell phone. Callers are asked for the exact location, whether the animal is alive, and the nearest public boat ramp. The Miami manatees guide covers the species in more depth.

Yes: American crocodiles live in coastal areas throughout the Caribbean and occur at the northern end of their range in south Florida and the Keys, which includes Miami, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The crocodiles seen around Miami belong to a Florida population that is a recovery story. Listed as endangered in 1975, it has recovered from a few hundred individuals to as many as 2,000 adult crocodiles today, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service now classifies the Florida population as threatened (FWC).

FWC runs a crocodile response program. Anyone in Miami concerned about a crocodile calls 866-392-4286 (866-FWC-GATOR), and a crocodile response agent responds. FWC lists Everglades National Park and Biscayne National Park as places to observe crocodiles near Miami. The Miami American crocodile guide covers the species in more depth.

Sea turtle nesting season on Miami-Dade beaches runs from March 1 to October 31 each year, and nesting can occasionally occur outside those dates (Miami-Dade County Sea Turtle Conservation Program).

The loggerhead is the most common nesting species in Miami-Dade County, and green and leatherback turtles also nest on county beaches. The Miami-Dade County Parks Sea Turtle Conservation Program began in 1980, after disoriented hatchlings were found along A1A (Collins Avenue) in Miami Beach; its biologists now survey 19 miles of beach every day from March to October (Miami-Dade County Parks). Nests at Crandon, Miami Beach and Haulover Park are eligible for the county Adopt-a-Nest program.

Within the City of Miami, the beaches on the northern portion of North Point on Virginia Key support a significant amount of sea turtle nesting activity, and the city notes significant beach erosion along the eastern portion of that area (City of Miami).

Beachfront lights visible from a nesting beach can create a hazard for nesting and hatchling sea turtles, and FWC asks beachfront properties to follow three golden rules: keep lights low, keep them long (amber, orange or red light of 560 nm or greater) and keep them shielded and pointed down (FWC sea turtle lighting). This page is dated October 15, 2026, two weeks before the 2026 Miami-Dade season closes on October 31. A stranded turtle is reported to FWC at 1-888-404-3922 or to the county program at 305-310-3046. Species details are in the Miami sea turtles guide.

Bottlenose dolphins reside in Biscayne Bay, where NOAA has run a long-term photo-identification study of the dolphins inhabiting the bay since 1990 (NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center).

The study is run from the NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center at 75 Virginia Beach Drive, Miami. Researchers survey from small boats in Biscayne Bay, adjacent estuaries and nearshore coastal waters and photograph dorsal fins, using natural markings to identify individual dolphins and track them over time (NOAA). Targeted studies within the program have also taken tissue biopsy samples for genetic and contaminant analyses.

NOAA uses these data to examine the demographic structure and population dynamics of the Biscayne Bay Estuarine System stock of bottlenose dolphins (NOAA). The Miami dolphins guide covers the Biscayne Bay dolphins in more depth.

Green iguanas are a nonnative, invasive species in Florida, first reported in Miami-Dade County, and they can be removed from private property with the landowner's permission, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Green iguanas were first reported in Florida in the 1960s in Hialeah, Coral Gables and Key Biscayne, all along Miami-Dade County's southeastern coast (FWC). Florida added them to its Prohibited species list effective April 29, 2021. Like other nonnative reptiles, they are not protected in Florida except by anti-cruelty law, and they can be captured year-round without a permit or hunting license on 32 public lands in south Florida.

For a dead animal in a City of Miami right of way, residents call 311 or use the city's online form, and the Department of Solid Waste at 1290 NW 20th Street also answers at 305-960-2801 (City of Miami). The city says the request is only for City of Miami residents, and a request from any other location, such as Coral Gables, will not be granted.

The four Miami wildlife guides each take one animal: manatees, the American crocodile, sea turtles and dolphins, and the table below maps the common questions to them.

FWC is the lead state agency in carrying out manatee protection and runs the Wildlife Alert line (Miami-Dade County). Miami-Dade County Parks biologists survey county beaches for sea turtle activity (Miami-Dade County Parks), NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center runs the Biscayne Bay dolphin study, and the City of Miami takes dead animal reports for its right of way through 311.