Could mermaids really exist? Guest post by Vanessa Finaughty

Could mermaids really exist?

Welcome to Day 20 of the Wizard of Ends virtual book tour!

 

Mermaids have always fascinated me, especially because I believe they might actually exist – maybe even today, right now as you read this, there is a mermaid pod frolicking somewhere deep in the ocean.

Considering that we have only explored about 5% of ocean covering almost 70% of Earth (NOAA), how can there not be undiscovered species? Countless ocean species are almost definitely waiting to be discovered one day – we haven’t even scratched the surface of what’s out there, so it isn’t inconceivable that one of them might be a humanoid fish. Perhaps they are merely a lost species, one that has long ago learnt to stay away from the ocean surface when they hear human activity.

If mermaids are real, are they gentle sea creatures, ocean predators or mentally more like humans? If they are similar to humans, are they at a similar level to us, or are they the Neanderthals of the ocean?

Also, what would they look like? At least on the inside, their physiology couldn’t be too similar to ours, because our bodies could never survive deep-sea pressure or temperatures. According to NOAA, “At a depth of 5,000 meters the pressure will be approximately 500 atmospheres or 500 times greater than the pressure at sea level … The average scuba diver becomes incapacitated at 250 feet of depth.”

If the many mermaid sightings were sightings of a real creature, it stands to reason that mermaids would need some sort of hybrid physiology that allows them to survive both deep under the ocean and above water. For example, I imagine that they would need both lungs and gills, and they probably wouldn’t have much gas in their bodies (to avoid being crushed by the deep-sea pressure). They would also likely have to have a fair amount of blubber for warmth, or a naturally high body temperature (endotherms).

Whatever the case, there have been endless claims of mermaid sightings over the centuries. Some ancient peoples even worshipped mermaid-like gods, such as the Mesopotamian god, Oannes, who was said to have the head and feet of a man under his fish body. It was told that he would come ashore and teach humans about science, art and writing. The 13^th-century Norwegian text, Konungs Skuggsjá (King’s Mirror) included what might be a mermaid among its descriptions of sea creatures, describing it as ‘a tall beast with shoulders, but no hands’ that rose to the surface before a storm.

Mermaid sightings aren’t restricted to ancient times, either. Many historic and modern people have claimed to have seen a mermaid. There was Christopher Columbus, who spotted what might have been mermaids in 1493 near the Dominican Republic. He described them to be less beautiful than others had said them to be, as they had some masculine features. In 1608, several explorers on an expedition with Henry Hudson claimed to have seen a creature that they described as: “From the naval upward she was like a woman with long, black hair, but she had a tail like a porpoise.”

In 1943, Japanese soldiers stationed in the Kai Islands spotted what they described as ‘man-fish’ in a lagoon. They described the creatures as unfriendly, with spikes on their spine, neck and shoulders, pinkish skin, a carp-like mouth, long arms and two frog-like fins. In 1967, some ferry passengers claimed that they saw a mermaid eating a fish in the waves on the Canadian Mayne Island. They described the mermaid as a topless female with silver-blonde hair. No one ever saw her again, despite one witness offering $25,000 to anyone who could capture her.

Of course, it’s equally possible that mermaids were merely other sea creatures that were misidentified at the time of sighting. Many people believe that dugongs (sea cows) and manatee are the real culprits. I don’t know… looking at pictures of these marine creatures, I just can’t see how they could be mistaken for half human, even though they admittedly have some human-like postures, can turn their heads similar to humans, are about the same height as an adult human, and are said to be friendly creatures who regularly interact with humans. This said, it would certainly explain why Columbus said they were not so beautiful! Conceivably, from a distance, and in the right light and at the right angle, they might appear more human-like. However, if the distance was great enough to make that mistake, how could their other features have been described in such detail, and what of much more recent sightings?

Importantly, would today’s humans still make this mistake when most people are more prone to scream ‘hoax’ than believe such a tale? Yet still, the sightings keep being reported…

There is even a modern man who claims to have photographic evidence that is said to be deemed real by experts – I can’t verify this, but it’s interesting enough to mention anyway, considering that ten other people also professed to have seen it. In 1998, diver Jeff Leicher reported having taken a photo of a mermaid off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii. According to Leicher, she was swimming with dolphins and brushed against him.

The account I find the most interesting was all over Zimbabwean local news in 2012 when dam workers reported being harassed by mermaids and refused to continue the work at the Gokwe and Osborne dams in Zimbabwe. The workers reported machines mysteriously breaking down and being chased away by what they believed to be mermaids. All of them refused to dive back to complete the work. The local government put this down to cultural fear based on local beliefs, so non-locals were hired to complete the work. However, these workers, who had never been exposed to local beliefs, came back equally terrified and also refused to go back. To the best of my knowledge, the work on these dams has still not been completed. Mermaid or not, it seems something is down there.

Reports of mermaid sightings come from all over the world. Surely there must be something to the stories? A previously undiscovered creature, maybe. Or a known creature that’s been misidentified. Or maybe, just maybe, there really is a human-fish hybrid somewhere out there…

 

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