HALLANDALE BEACH – (CBSMiami.com) First one, then another sunbather on Hallandale Beach spotted what looked like someone, or some thing, in trouble. They saw a dark form in the shallow water, near the beach. They went to help, but were shocked by what they found.

The strange thrashing shape was spotted off the beach mid-afternoon Friday, which just happened to be the first day of spring. The spring breakers knew it, and apparently, the shape in the water knew it as well.

Make that shapes.

As people walked out into the water, what they found was actually 3 sea creatures, churning up a storm. Whales, asked the beachgoers? Dolphins? Are they in trouble?

Turned out there was no trouble. Once experts were called to weigh in on the matter, they were told the shapes in the water were Manatees.

And what they were doing, was, well, what comes naturally to young sea-cows in spring.

They were making little manatees, right out there in the open, in full view of the sunbathers, many of whom walked right up to take a look, not knowing what they were seeing. Manatee sex.

The experts who figured out what was going on say it’s not uncommon for Manatees, air-breathing mammals, to come up into shallow waters where their, well, exertions are a little bit safer, so they can both breathe and, preserve the species.

After a while, they either completed their manatee-making mission or got bored and floated away, or maybe they were acting, on this fine spring day, with the suggestion made by one person who saw them at play.

“Get a reef,” someone said.

Hey, nobody told you to look.