"It's pushing me," she exclaimed. "Oh, it's pushing me."

Coming up from behind her was a large, curious manatee, wondering what the swimmer in the mermaid suit was doing in the sparkling waters of the Homosassa Springs State Wildlife Park Fishbowl, home of the park's captive manatee herd.

A moment later, two creatures in wetsuits surfaced nearby. One held a camera. The other was Jeff Corwin, a well-known animal conservation show personality. He was at the park Monday and Tuesday filming scenes for an upcoming episode of his show, The Jeff Corwin Experience, which airs on the Animal Planet channel.

Corwin, known for his wacky persona and his hands-on work with animals, including plenty of dangerous ones, was focusing the episode on Florida wildlife. At the park he filmed scenes with snakes, but mostly he was filming with the manatees.

That's where the mermaid, brought in from Hernando County's Weeki Wachee Springs, came into the picture.

"It's sort of a gag we're doing," Corwin said, noting that manatees were classified scientifically related to sirens, mysterious creatures seen in the sea by sailors. "Sailors used to think of manatees as mermaids, and I say, 'Boy, they must have been lonely or drunk,' and then the mermaid swims by."

Another Florida-based segment filmed at the park this week involved Corwin drinking from the "Fountain of Youth" and the camera fading from him and refocusing on a child wearing Corwin's oversized wetsuit.

But the Massachusetts resident doesn't turn everything into a gag.

An author and guest speaker with degrees in biology and anthropology, Corwin is enthusiastic about his work to raise public awareness about animals, their habitats and conservation.

While the park's manatee information program went on in the background, Corwin explained that the episode he was filming was going to focus on the Sunshine State. "It's all about the natural history of Florida from the Everglades to Homosassa," Corwin said. He had previously swum with the Homosassa manatees when he hosted another program for children, Going Wild With Jeff Corwin.

"It's a good time to celebrate America," he said. After finishing Florida filming in a few weeks, he and his crew will be heading to California.

Art Yerian, wildlife care supervisor for the Homosassa Springs State Wildlife Park, said the crew had spent quite a bit of time filming with the manatees earlier in the week. Park officials were told that the segments might air early next year.

After the swim around the Fishbowl area, with plenty of park visitors watching from the observatory, Corwin got out of the water to stand on the nearby dock. "Where's the mermaid?" he asked.

She came swimming up.

"How long have you been doing this?" Corwin asked her.

"Since '93," Waldron answered.

"Did you always love the water?" he asked, and she nodded enthusiastically.

Corwin wasn't surprised that the manatees surrounded him, his cameraman and mermaid Waldron on Tuesday and throughout the filming. "They're just very curious," he said. "They're super curious."

He said the idea behind his current show is to introduce people of all ages to wildlife and the need to protect wildlife.

While the subject is a serious one, Corwin doesn't always come across that way on camera. He said he wants people to enjoy the experience.