History Main / OurMermaidsAreDifferent

* The titular "Queen of Cups" from ''Art/MysticalMedleysAVintageCartoonTarot'' has a red-headed mermaid with a crown sitting on a beach with a cup. There is also a baby mermaid (complete with SeashellBra), a pacifier and a bonnet.

* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9fmM_hb6p8 the music video]] for Chance Calloway and AJ Rafael's cover of "I Know Him So Well" from ''Music/Chess1984'' features a GreekChorus of mermen who show up at emotional peaks to shred awesomely on their ''guitars''.

* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey III: The Drowned City'' has mermaids appear in the form of [[spoiler:the Deep Ones, which are the spawn of an alien EldritchAbomination]].

* ''ComicBook/TamsinAndtheDeep'' has a mermaid as the primary villain, who made a pact with one of Tamsin's ancestors and transforms into a giant monster at one point.

* ''ComicBook/Tamsin and the Deep'' has a mermaid as the primary villain, who made a pact with one of Tamsin's ancestors and transforms into a giant monster at one point.

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[[folder: Real Life]]
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_ape_hypothesis The Aquatic Ape Theory]] proposes the idea that one section of early hominid returned to the sea.
* P.T. Barnum's museum of curiosities featured a twisted, mummified specimen called a "Fiji Mermaid". It was, of course, a fake, created by sewing the front half of a monkey to the back half of a fish. It was also every bit as f'ugly as that combination sounds.
** Creator/RobinJarvis evidently took inspiration from it for the mummified mer-thing in ''The Whitby Child''.
* One popular hypothesis as to the source of the mermaid myth is that manatees, dugongs and sea cows were often mistaken for mermaids, perhaps because the females have breasts and float upright in the water to nurse their young. Taxonomists recognized this by assigning these species the order name ''Sirenia''
** There's a wonderful bit in one of UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus's logs about seeing "mermaids" in the Caribbean -- he says they're less beautiful than they are painted, because their face resembles that of a man. A seriously ugly man, one assumes.
** Referenced on ''Series/HowIMetYourMother''. Barney theorizes that sailors [[MeatOVision saw manatees as beautiful women]] because [[HornySailors they have not seen real women for so long]]. He adds that this is why men and women can't just be friends: eventually the "manatee" turns into a mermaid.
** There's the [[BestialityIsDepraved "other"]] reason they're compared to mermaids that's a prettier lie than the ugly truth as according to ''Manswers,'' their docile behavior and anatomy's similar to a human for both partners to "enjoy."
* Eric Ducharme, the "real-life mer-''man''."
* [[http://www.stuff.co.nz/4858855a11.html Nadya]] [[http://www.itexaminer.com/weta-turns-woman-into-mermaid.aspx Vessey]], an amputee, has been given a really neat [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9jCsbii5rs mermaid's]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YMUWe9V-94 tail]] '''prosthesis''' by Creator/PeterJackson's WETA workshop.
** ''Popular Science's Future Of'' showed the [[http://www.lunocet.com/ Lunocet mermaid-style swim fin]], designed to increase swimming speed.
* An extremely rare human birth defect, in which both legs are fused together from crotch to feet, is known as sirenomelia or "mermaid syndrome". Sadly, people with this condition usually die within a day of birth, due to associated abnormalities of kidneys and bladder; to date, only a handful of sirenomelia patients have survived for long, and only with drastic surgical help.
* The ''Annals of the Four Masters'' (a collection of medieval Irish histories compiled in the early 17th century) casually mention mermaids being caught several times. Most impressive is a mermaid listed as having washed ashore in the year 887:
-->''One hundred and ninety five feet was her length, eighteen feet was the length of her hair, seven feet was the length of the fingers of her hand, seven feet also was the length of her nose; she was whiter than the swan all over.''
* Bethany Hamilton of the surfing movie, ''Film/SoulSurfer'', at least once compared herself and Alana Blanchard to mermaids. Just watch a tape of her surfing and you will see why.
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaiding Mermaiding]]: Swimmable mermaid tails are available to allow folks to pretend to be a mermaid. A small subculture centered around mermaiding has gained some popularity with swimmers in recent years.
* There are a number of people -- usually women -- who work as professional mermaids. They're hired to perform at aquariums in costume as children's entertainment, often to teach something about marine biology, too.
[[/folder]]

* In one episode of the French cartoon {{''WesternAnimation/Ratz''}}, we meet a duo of mermaids. Both have unusual skin colors (green and blue), but while one is the usual woman-with-a-fish-tail, the other rather has human legs and a fish head. Both are shapeshifters able to turn into seducing human women (for a brief time) and both are man-eaters. When they can't get human meat, they resort to eating snails - and they absolutely terrified of rats.

* In one episode of the French cartoon ''WesternAnimation/Ratz'', we meet a duo of mermaids. Both have unusual skin colors (green and blue), but while one is the usual woman-with-a-fish-tail, the other rather has human legs and a fish head. Both are shapeshifters able to turn into seducing human women (for a brief time) and both are man-eaters. When they can't get human meat, they resort to eating snails - and they absolutely terrified of rats.

* Nami the Tidecaller from ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' is a member of a mermaid race called the Marai. As well as being rather more fish-like than the usual mermaid (they have pale-skinned humanoid faces and arms, but at least their females have AbsoluteCleavage coats of scales covering their NonMammalMammaries) they also live so deep in the ocean that the light of the sun and moon cannot reach them and they know nothing of the surface world. Nami, at least, can cross land by floating on a small personal vortex of water. After a lore {{Retcon}}, the Marai are now a subrace of Vastaya, half-breeds whose ancestors used to be human before magically adopting animal traits.

* ''VideoGame/{{Dislyte}}: Biondina is the host of the Greek sea god, Poseidon, and as such has been transformed into a silvery mermaid, with a tail that's ''several'' times the length of her torso. When attacking, she'll move up to enemies by slithering around.

* The short lived series ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfAtlantis'' feature a ''legged'' human-dolphinish-hybrid and a half-human-half-ray creature.

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong'': Mermaids can't switch but they can live on land for long periods. Long enough for one [[spoiler:to go undercover at Jake's school for several months as his principal, using a wheelchair]]. As an additional feature, they seem to have a natural talent for maths. It also features a mermaid who is afraid of water.

* In one episode of the French cartoon ''WesternAnimation/Ratz'', we meet a duo of mermaids. Both have unusual skin colors (green and blue), but while one is the usual woman-with-a-fish-tail, the other rather has human legs and a fish head. Both are shapeshifters able to turn into seducing human women (for a brief time)and both are man-eaters. When they can't get human meat, they resort to eating snails - and they absolutely terrified of rats.

* ''WesternAnimation/SabansAdventuresOfTheLittleMermaid'' is an animated series based on the Little Mermaid short story. It uses the Magical Item Method - where the 'Potion of Change' allows mermaid Marina to gain legs and walk on land, or else Prince Justin to breathe underwater.

* Marina from the French cartoon ''WesternAnimation/ZigAndSharko'' is mostly a typical mermaid, except she can survive on land and walk on her [[TailfinWalking tail fins]]. Also, her parents are a mermaid and a human man, [[MermaidProblem somehow]].

* ''VideoGame/SpyroAHerosTail'': Ineptune, the evil queen of the seas, is a green-skinned mermaid with a blue fish tail the same color as her chest plate. She's served by Mer-Gnorcs with fish tails instead of regular Gnorcs' legs, EarFins, and anglerfish-like lures on their heads.

* In ''VideoGame/TheSims3'', mermaids are introduced in the ''Island Paradise'' ExpansionPack. While in water, mermaids have fins, however on land they have scaly legs. They have unique Needs. The Hydration need can be satisfied by swimming, taking a bath/shower, or standing in the rain. They eat kelp and fish. And they're called mermaids regardless of gender.
* Mermaids replace the Dolphins in ''[[VideoGame/{{Something}} Something Else]]'', but they only show up in the secret exit path for Mysterious Maze.
* The Nereids of ''VideoGame/SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters'' are essentially a OneGenderRace of mermaids. Due to this they use males of other species in order to breed. This is why [[WifeHusbandry they have a little human boy around with them.]]
* In ''VideoGame/StardewValley'' the Wizard first mentions the existence of merfolk during the Luau festival, on the winter's Night Market there's a mermaid that has a song performance, and on Ginger Island during rainy days the same mermaid can be seen on a rock at the beach.

* ''VideoGame/{{Dislyte}}: Biondina is the host of Poseidon, and as such has been transformed into a silvery mermaid, with a tail that's ''several'' times the length of her torso. When attacking, she'll move up to enemies by slithering around.

* ''Anime/CardfightVanguard'' has a Clan called Bermuda Triangle that's basically Mermaids combined with the concept of ''IdolSinger'', these can either look like a generic Half-Human/Fish, but sometimes they incorporate more exotic design traits like Fin ears and Webbed Indexes.

** The French-language ''Le Monde des Tenebres: France'' has the Morganed kith, who are similar but not identical to the mer: they're able to [[SirensAreMermaids draw humans to them with their songs]], and need to spend time in salt water every day or lose Glamour. They associate themselves with land-dwellers more than the isolationist Merfolk do, aligning themselves with the overland courts of the Sidhe rather than the undersea courts of the Merfolk. Thanks to a Kickstarter stretch goal, they got included in the 20th anniversary corebook for ''Dreaming''.

* In ''VideoGame/TheSims3'' mermaids are introduced in the ''Island Paradise'' ExpansionPack. While in water, mermaids have fins, however on land they have scaly legs. They have unique Needs. The Hydration need can be satisfied by swimming, taking a bath/shower, or standing in the rain. They eat kelp and fish.

* The merfolk from ''Series/{{Siren|2018}}'' are apex-predators organized in matriarchal tribes; their eye color marking which tribe they belong to. They have their own language and culture, and are capable of assuming a human form on land through a [[PainfulTransformation painful transformation]]. Their song, if used defensively can cause severe brain-damage and even drive people to commit suicide.

* The ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' episode "From out of the Rain" featured Pearl, said by the Ghostmaker to be "the closest thing you'll ever see to a living mermaid". She didn't have a tail or gills, but could live in water, glistened like she was wet all the time, and liked to drink tears.

[[folder:Arts]]