History Main / ApparentlyHumanMerfolk

* ''Literature/TheSecretOfPlatform13'' has Melisande, a merrow who is proud of having feet and continually points them out, for some reason touchy about the idea that people will mistake her for a mermaid.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' gives us Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, parodies of Creator/AdamWest-era Series/{{Batman|1966}} and ComicBook/{{Robin}} as well as the Filmation ComicBook/{[Aquaman}} cartoon. They look like humans wearing superhero costumes (at all times) but can breathe and live indefinitely underwater and talk to sea creatures. The show eventually explains that they ''are'' normal humans. The starfish Mermaid Man wears on his face magically keeps him alive and was a gift from some friendly mermaids (hence the name). Likewise, Mermaid Man gave Barnacle Boy the ability to breathe water... by forcing him to ingest a bunch of barnacles.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' gives us Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, parodies of Creator/AdamWest-era Series/{{Batman|1966}} and ComicBook/{{Robin}}. They look like humans wearing superhero costumes (at all times) but can breathe and live indefinitely underwater and talk to sea creatures. The show eventually explains that they ''are'' normal humans. The starfish Mermaid Man wears on his face magically keeps him alive and was a gift from some friendly mermaids (hence the name). Likewise, Mermaid Man gave Barnacle Boy the ability to breathe water... by forcing him to ingest a bunch of barnacles.

* The plot of the anime movie ''Coral Reef Legend: Elfie of the Blue Seas'' has main protagonist Elfie as one of these ''and'' [[LastOfTheirKind the last of her kind]], as all her people were exterminated years ago.

* ''Aquiliton'' by Maureen Myers features two kinds of merpeople: the traditional kind with fish tails and ones who completely resemble humans and can breathe air, but they'll dry out and die if they stay on land too long and tend to have pale skin and big feet. Also, females develop a sort of charm power during puberty that is replenished by moonbathing. The human-appearing merpeople can interbreed with humans, but their offspring usually die young.
* Electra of the ''Not Quite A Mermaid'' series was born human but was found after a storm by merfolk and given magical sea powder so that she could breathe and live underwater.

* Atlanteans as seen in ''Film/Aquaman2018'' are visually indistinguishable from humans. Internally they are very different. They have all of the RequiredSecondaryPowers needed to thrive underwater: water breathing, withstanding deep sea pressure and cold, and being able to see in the dark. This is thanks to the power of the Trident of Atlan which altered their physiology even as the ill-advised attempt to weaponize it sunk Atlantis. The high-born Atlanteans such as Arthur himself are also capable of breathing air (the rest of the Atlanteans need PoweredArmor filled with water to survive on the surface). It's worth noting that the present-day Atlanteans are only one of the Seven Kingdoms. The other Kingdoms are populated by the descendants of other survivors of Atlantis who made their homes in less hospital parts of the sea, and over the course of generations they stopped playing this trope straight. One kingdom became FishPeople, another became Crab People, and another became... monsters.

* The titular character of ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'', what with him being a demigod son of Poseidon and all, can breathe water as easily as air (with his ''lungs'').

* When mermaids in ''Manga/OnePiece'' turn 30, their tail splits into legs. They can turn their legs back into a tail if they need to, but from that point on they're indistinguishable from humans.

* ''Franchise/TheDCU'' has ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}, Mera, Aqualad, [[ComicBook/WonderWoman Clea]] and their kin. Somewhat of a mixed example, as {{Atlantis}} also includes more traditional mermaids ([[ComicBook/{{Superman}} Lori Lemaris]], [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Ronno]]) and others (Lagoon Boy, Blubber) who are animal/sea-life mixtures.

** Depictions of [[LordOfTheOcean sea gods]] like Nereus and Proteus in Classical iconography vary between looking entirely human or with a long, serpentine fish tail in place of legs, depending on the context or [[DependingOnTheWriter preference of the artist]].

** Female water [[OurNymphsAreDifferent nymphs]] such as Oceanids, Nereids, and Naiads look invariably entirely human (though perhaps [[InhumanlyBeautifulRace more beautiful than mortals]]). ''Potamoi'', the male spirits of rivers and the brothers of the Oceanids, were sometimes also depicted as human ([[HornedHumanoid with horns]]). Other times they were depicted as bulls with human faces, because rivers were said to be bull-like in nature.

** The oceanids, nereids, and naiads look entirely human, though perhaps [[InhumanlyBeautifulRace more beautiful than mortals]].

* The oceanids, nereids, and naiads of Myth/ClassicalMythology look entirely human, though perhaps more beautiful than mortals.

* ''Literature/{{Aquiliton}}'' by Maureen Myers features two kinds of merpeople: the traditional kind with fish tails and ones who completely resemble humans and can breathe air, but they'll dry out and die if they stay on land too long and tend to have pale skin and big feet. Also, females develop a sort of charm power during puberty that is replenished by moonbathing. The human-appearing merpeople can interbreed with humans, but their offspring usually die young.
* Electra of the ''Literature/NotQuiteAMermaid'' series was born human but was found after a storm by merfolk and given magical sea powder so that she could breathe and live underwater.

* The titular character of ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'', what with him being a demigod son of Poseidon and all.

* [[SelkiesAndWereseals Selkies]] of Faroese and [[{{Scotireland}} Scotirish]] folklore wear a sealskin as a wetsuit and take human form when they shed it. The Faroese story "The Seal Wife" is about a man who steals a selkie woman's wetsuit and locks it up so that she can't go back to the sea.

* ''VideoGame/TwistedWonderland'' has Azul, Jade and Floyd, mermen who use transformation potions to take on human forms (Jade and Floyd's inhumanly sharp teeth aside) to attend [[WizardingSchool Night Raven College]] on land, and can choose to return to their original forms (an octopus-based form for Azul and moray eel-based forms for the twins) underwater. Azul also makes potions that temporarily grant his land-dwelling schoolmates the ability to breathe underwater so they can visit his homeland.

* The merrows of ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' have the ability to shift from a more traditional mermaid body to a fully humanoid form that's capable of walking on land and having children with human men. This is how a lone island girl named Isma was conceived. [[spoiler:It turns out that Isma is herself a merrow who's capable of switching between both forms.]]

* The ningyo in ''Manga/MyBrideIsAMermaid'' mostly appear identical to humans and live alongside them in a masquerade, violation of which is punished by death. They turn into more traditional mermaids, fish-people, or sometimes whole sea animals when exposed to water, though, which is very inconvenient for the klutzy female lead Sun Seto.

* ''Series/MakoMermaidsAnH2OAdventure'' is mostly about these.
* ''Series/TheManFromAtlantis'': The only indication of the eponymous man's nature is his webbed hands.

* Marina and her people (all of whom are mute) from ''Series/Stingray1964''.

* ''Aquiliton'' by Maureen Myers features two kinds of merpeople: the traditional kind with fish tails and ones who completely resemble humans and can breathe air, but they'll dry out and die if they stay on land too long and tend to have pale skin and big feet. Also, females develop a sort of charm power during puberty that is replenished by moonbathing. The human-appearing merpeople can interbreed with humans, but their offspring usually die young.

* ''Anime/UmiMonogatari'' is the story of two sea elves (elves with pointy ears and internal gills, but otherwise human) who take a trip to an island to return a ring. They aren't spotted as mermaids at all, which causes... [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom problems]].

Often overlaps with WalkDontSwim, WaterIsDry, and WaterIsAir. Compare HumanAliens, where "alien" species look exactly like humans do, yet count as aliens. Subtrope of OurMermaidsAreDifferent.

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* The merrows of ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'' have the ability to shift from a more traditional mermaid body to a fully humanoid form that's capable of walking on land and having children with human men. This is how a lone island girl named Isma was conceived. [[spoiler:And it turns out that Isma is herself a merrow who's capable of switching between both forms.]]
* The Ragnans of ''Anime/MacrossDelta'', who have shark-like gill slits on the base of their necks, webbed hands and feet, and fins on their elbows and calves.

* The plot of the anime movie ''Coral Reef Legend: Elfie of the Blue Seas'' has main protagonist Elfie as one of these ''and'' [[LastOfTheirKind the last of her kind]], as all her people were exterminated years ago.
* [[Manga/SquidGirl Squid Girl]], arguably, since when she isn't manipulating things with her tentacles, she appears to be a normal girl [[ClothingAppendage with a]] hat and a weird hairstyle.
* ''Anime/UmiMonogatari'' is the story of two sea elves (elves with pointy ears and internal gills, but otherwise human) who take a trip to an island to return a ring. They aren't spotted as mermaids at all, which causes... [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom problems]].

[[folder:Comics]]
* Creator/DCComics has Comicbook/{{Aquaman}}, ComicBook/{{Mera}}, Aqualad, [[Franchise/WonderWoman Clea]] and their kin. Somewhat of a mixed example, as Atlantis also includes more traditional mermaids ([[Franchise/{{Superman}} Lori Lemaris]], [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Ronno]]) and others (Lagoon Boy, Blubber) who are animal/sea-life mixtures.
* Creator/MarvelComics has Namor the ComicBook/SubMariner, who has slightly pointy ears and wings on his feet as he can also fly, but looks much closer to human than fish.
** Namor's people also normally have blue skin, but he's half-human and a ''mutant'' to boot (hence the wings which are not natural to either side of his lineage).
* The Top Cow comic ''ComicBook/{{Fathom}}'' is about a member of a race of water-based humanoid {{Elemental Shapeshifter}}s who have this among their abilities.
* The Aqualanians from ''[[ComicBook/{{SwordQuest}} Swordquest: Waterworld]],'' a race of undersea merpeople; aside from their yellow-green skin and green hair, they look like humans (complete with legs) and are capable of breathing air.

[[folder:Film]]
* At the end of ''Film/{{Splash}}'' Allen becomes one of these so he can be with the more typical mermaid love Madison.
* [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055844/ There's]] an old Soviet romantic sci-fi film called ''Chelovek-Amfibiya (The Human Amphibian)'', in which an oceanologist's son with sick lungs [[WeCanRebuildHim was given]] [[BioPunk additional implants]] [[ArtisticLicenseBiology derived from the gils of a young shark]]. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin He can survive on land, but mostly sticks to the sea, where he's more comfortable with breathing.]] The main plot point of the movie is [[spoiler: the gradual deterioration of his ability to breathe atmospheric air and the need to forever leave dry land and live purely in the sea]].
* The Mariner in ''Film/{{Waterworld}}'', played by Kevin Costner, has gills behind the ears, apparently the result of a mutation.
* Atlanteans as seen in ''Film/Aquaman2018'' are visually indistinguishable from humans. Internally they are very different. They have all of the RequiredSecondaryPowers needed to thrive underwater: water breathing, withstanding deep sea pressure and cold, and being able to see in the dark. This is thanks to the power of the Trident of Atlan which altered their physiology even as the ill-advised attempt to weaponize it sunk Atlantis. The high-born Atlanteans such as Arthur himself are also capable of breathing air (the rest of the Atlanteans need PoweredArmor filled with water to survive on the surface). It's worth noting that the present-day Atlanteans are only one of the Seven Kingdoms. The other Kingdoms are populated by the descendants of other survivors of Atlantis who made their homes in less hospital parts of the sea, and over the course of generations they stopped playing this trope straight. One kingdom became FishPeople, another became Crab People, and another became...monsters.

* The titular character of ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' what with him being a demigod son of Poseidon and all.

* The rifters from Peter Watts' ''Literature/RiftersTrilogy'' are modified humans (cybernetics and genetic engineering are used) who can survive in deep sea conditions. In fact, they prefer the sea to staying in their confined UnderwaterBase.
* Electra of the ''NotQuiteAMermaid'' series. JustifiedTrope - she was born human, but was found after a storm by merfolk and given magical sea powder so that she could breathe and live underwater.
* Aquiliton by Maureen Myers features two kinds of merpeople: the traditional kind with fish tails and ones who completely resemble humans and can breathe air, but they'll dry out and die if they stay on land too long, and tend to have pale skin and big feet. Also, females develop a sort of charm power during puberty that is replenished by moonbathing. The human-appearing merpeople can interbreed with humans, but their offspring usually die young.
* In ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'', Lucy views these sorts of Sea People through the crystal-clear waters of the eastern Last Sea. They don't make contact, but she watches them using trained fish like hunting falcons, and observes underwater farms and a royal court.

[[folder:LiveActionTelevision]]
* ''Series/TheManFromAtlantis'' is another example. The only indication of his nature was webbed hands.
* The titular heroine of ''Series/OceanGirl'' looked fully human.
* In later seasons of ''Series/SeaQuestDSV'', the character Tony Piccolo is a human who was modified with gills along his sides (and probably RequiredSecondaryPowers to allow him to survive deep-sea pressure) but otherwise looks completely normal.
* In ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'' episode "The New Breed", a scientist is injected with nano-robots who "correct" his cancer and myopia. When he and his friend test the limits of the robots abilities, one of the tests is to see how long the man can stay underwater. The nano-robots misinterpret this by giving the man gills so he can breathe, seriously squicking him out.
* An episode of ''Series/DarkAngel'' had a couple of transgenics who looked perfectly human, except for the gills coming out of their backs and their inability to speak. They also laid eggs.
* ''Series/MakoMermaidsAnH2OAdventure'' is mostly about these.
* The third season of ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' introduced the Alien Rangers, a race called the Aquitians who lived on an [[SingleBiomePlanet ocean planet]]. As far as their appearance goes, they were more RubberForeheadAliens who spoke with voices that sounded like they were put under an underwater distortion filter.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'': The Nexines who actually are human merfolk. They are a race genetically engineered for underwater mining.
** Their [[MeaningfulName name]] too is like the name Nexie which is a kind of water fay.

* ''VideoGame/PerfectWorld''

* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfLegendia'' there's the Ferines, an aquatic race that looks perfectly human despite the fact that [[spoiler: they evolved completely underwater; their planet had NO dry land until humans from space came and raised it from the ocean]].

* Naiads in ''VideoGame/TheWitcher''. They walk literally naked (yes, right in the game, with all the details), have greenish skin and dark green hair (yes, pubic hair too), but otherwise absolutely human. Dryads and Lady of the Lake closely resemble them in appearance, except that Lady's best parts are [[GodivaHair covered with her long hair]].

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' gives us Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, parodies of Creator/AdamWest-era Series/{{Batman|1966}} and ComicBook/{{Robin}}. They look like humans wearing superhero costumes (at all times), but can breathe and live indefinitely underwater and talk to sea creatures. The show eventually explained that they ARE normal humans. The starfish Mermaid Man wears on his face magically keeps him alive and was a gift from some friendly mermaids (ergo the name.) Likewise, Mermaid Man gave Barnacle Boy the ability to breathe water....by forcing him to ingest a bunch of barnacles.
* Marina and her people (all of whom are mute) from ''Series/{{Stingray 1964}}''.

* The Inklings from ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' look mostly human while they are not on squid form; the only things that make them stand out are pointy ears, unnaturally-colored hair that looks like tentacles and three fangs in their mouths. Unlike most examples in this trope, however, [[SuperDrowningSkills Inklings can't swim in water]], they can only swim through ink (and only if it's the same color as they are).

* [[Manga/SquidGirl Squid Girl]], arguably, since when she isn't manipulating things with her tentacles, she appears to be a normal girl [[ClothingAppendage with a]] NiceHat and a weird hairstyle.

** The Tideborn people look mostly human-like except for prominent gill-flaps where humans have ears, pale blue or purple skin, and prevalence of white and gray hair colors in all ages ([[YouGottaHaveBlueHair as well as other unusual hair colors]]). Player characters assume a more traditionally merpeople-like shape when they meditate to recover health and mana, and Tideborn who attain very high levels of magic power frequently have fins on their limbs or crustacean-like limbs extending from their backs.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' gives us Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, parodies of Creator/AdamWest-era Series/{{Batman|1966}} and ComicBook/{{Robin}}. The show eventually explained that they ARE normal humans. The starfish Mermaid Man wears on his face magically keeps him alive and was a gift from some friendly mermaids (ergo the name.) Likewise, Mermaid Man gave Barnacle Boy the ability to breathe water....by forcing him to ingest a bunch of barnacles.