History Main / FishPeople

%%* The Merlons from the Crystal Doors series of books.

* In ''Literature/MermaidsSong'', there are two main races of merfolk, Merras and Ghrismogs. Merras are [[UnscaledMerfolk traditional merfolk with dolphin tails]], while Ghrismogs have more fish-like upper halves.

* Michael Reaves and Steve Perry's novel ''Dome'' is set at a futuristic undersea research lab. One of its residents volunteers to be genetically modified into a fish person in order to better survive the underwater environment.

* A Deep One appears in Creator/AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/{{Neonomicon}}'' mini-series, based on Lovecraft's lore. As is common with this trope, he is first encountered in a gruesome sequence where he rapes the female lead, Agent Lemper, repeatedly over several days. However, it is revealed later that this is just how his species reproduces, and once Lemper actually attempts to communicate with him the Deep One becomes quite friendly with her, helping her escape and exacting a brutally gory vengeance on the cultists who set her up to be raped by him.

* A Deep One appears in Creator/AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/{{Neonomicon}}'' mini-series, based on Lovecraft's lore (and, as is common with this trope, a woman is raped by it).

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/CreatureFromTheBlackLagoon https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/file_170439_0_creature.png]]]]
[-[[caption-width-right:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 "Wandering free... wish I could be... part of your world!"]]]]-]

** Franchise/GreenLantern [=NautKeLoi=] is from an aquatic extraterrestrial species that breaths through gills and have fins on their heads.
** In ''ComicBook/SwampThing'', a new generation of vampires are hatched in a town submerged in stagnant water that have the form of fish people (though closer to fish). Charmingly, they eat each other until only one huge newborn remains.

** ''ComicBook/EmperorJoker'': [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]] uses his godlike RealityWarper powers to turn Aquaman into an actual fish man supervillain who ironically enough hates the ocean and tries to keep everyone out of it.

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[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

** * The Creator/TangentComics version of the Sea Devils. There's at least six or seven different species, from shark people to shrimp people, and some racial strife between them.

* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' pokes fun at this trope -- the standard fishman in Lina's world is basically a giant fish with stick-thin limbs.

* ''WesternAnimation/CleopatraInSpace'': Akila Theoris is a pink-haired, [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe blue-skinned]] alien fish girl with fairly large lips and fin- or gill-like structures on the sides of her face; her [[HasTwoMommies mothers]] have a similar appearance. Interestingly, neither Akila nor her moms seem to need water.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', there are several varieties of fish people, such as ''D&D'''s sahuagin, and locathah and others such as the anglerfish-inspired ceratioidi, [[AlluringAnglerfish who can mesmerize other creatures with their glowing lures]], and the [[SharkMan shark-like]] adaros. Many of these races are products of the Aboleth's influence on ancient human history. Most obvious are the degenerate survivors of an ancient and abandoned slave race, who are technically named Ulat Kini but known by everyone, including themselves, as Scum.

* One legend pertaining to the legendary Merovingian Dynasty claims that they were descendants of Fish People. The writers of the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holy_Blood_and_the_Holy_Grail The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail]]'', and ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode'' decided to interpret this as that they were in fact the descendants of Jesus Christ, since early Christians used a stylized fish as their symbol, not to mention that the Greek word for fish, ''icthys'', formed a nice acronym of Jesus's name and titles. There isn't an ounce more evidence to prove this theory than there is to prove actual Fish People's involvement, though. It is based on a rather desperate interpretation. "Merovingian" means people of the sea, and so originally most likely referred to a people who lived on the coast, or settlers who came from overseas. The Merovingians were perfectly historical, and they're called that after an ancestor named Merovech. If Website/{{Wikipedia}} may be believed, his name has, despite the similarity to "mere", German ''Meer'', etc, nothing to do with the sea, but means "famed fight".

** The Deep Ones from ''Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth'' are the TropeCodifier for literature. They, too, want to have sex with humans, and they bring good fortune to a remote fishing village that will give them what they want (although the story is more focused on the resulting [[HalfHumanHybrid Half-Human Hybrids]] than the act itself). Additionally, all the individual pairings we are told about were between female Deep Ones and human men. Also unlike most examples of this trope, they are shown to have an extremely sophisticated culture that the story goes out of its way to praise, since they live [[TheAgeless almost forever]] and can devote most of their time to honing their skills; in particular, they produce a lot of jewelry of an unsettling but undeniable beauty. They also have some duty to [[MadGod Cthulhu]] in bringing about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt but they don't seem to be particularly dedicated to it.

* There is a report of the 16th century King of UsefulNotes/{{Poland}} being shown a fish-like creature resembling a Bishop, that gestured to be asked for release to a group of Catholic bishops. Upon its release, it made the sign of the cross and disappeared back 8 into the sea.

* Peggy Sturgeon in ''Nyctophobia''. She has greenish-blue scaly skin, fins, gills, webbed hands and feet, huge green eyes, and ScaryTeeth like a shark, but is articulate and a NiceGirl if not somewhat spacey. Appearing in the first book ''The Makings of a Monster'', the Beta team found her being poked and prodded as a lab specimen called Subject Amphitrite, but she named herself Peggy after Selwyn freed her, while Tommy came up with Sturgeon, "[[GiverOfLameNames seein' as [she's] a big fish]]." Peggy goes to live in the Winchester office, to be groomed as an agent it seems, and starts courting Seth the teenaged FrankensteinsMonster.

* The ''umibozu'', a giant marine {{youkai}} resembling a hairless black-skinned humanoid with no mouth or nose that rises from the sea to wreck ships and terrify sailors. The ''umibozu'' probably served as a folkloric antecedent for the ''[[http://pinktentacle.com/2010/01/ningen-humanoid-sea-creatures-of-the-antarctic/ ningen]]'', a sort of gigantic (and absolutely [[UncannyValley terrifying]]) sea creature with vaguely human characteristics reported by Japanese whalers. It's probably an urban myth. Hopefully.

* In the German booklet series ''Maddrax'' there are the hydrites. They look like upright fishes, but seem to be amphibians, as they can survive on land. The hydrites live in large cities on the seabed, and are a peaceful and highly developed civilization. Pacifism is so important to them that most of their weapons are designed to stun their opponents instead of killing them. Most of them despise the humans and call them barbarians, but some of them are also friends with humans. Hydrites also have sharp teeth, which is why, despite their generally good-natured nature, they have a terrifying effect. In their past, however, they were a very brutal and belligerent species. But the reason was that they had eaten meat. When hydrites eat meat, they become vicious and aggressive, and chase their prey because it puts them in a [[EvilTastesGood pleasant intoxication]].

* Creator/{{Rankin Bass|Productions}}' ''[=TigerSharks=]'' (another segment of ''WesternAnimation/TheComicStrip'' are human heroes who can [[VoluntaryShapeshifting transform]] into fish-like [[HalfHumanHybrid Half-Human Hybrids]] to fight underwater criminals.

* Neptunia from ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' is another mutant fish person. She starts out as a WellIntentionedExtremist who wants {{revenge}} against the surface world for polluting her ocean home (yes, just like one of the ''[=DuckTales=]'' examples above), which caused her to mutate from an ordinary fish. However, she does a HeelFaceTurn and eventually joins Darkwing's SuperHero team the Justice Ducks -- even though, as she protests any time anybody mentions the name, she's ''not'' a duck.

* ''Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater'': The seashore-dwelling Na'vis such as the Metkayina, compared to forest Na'vis like the Omaticaya. In addition to their skin being a lighter shade of blue, their tail is more akin to a fishtail, and they have fin-like appendices on their arms to swim better.

* ''Film/AvatarTheWayOfPeople'': The seashore-dwelling Na'vis such as the Metkayina, compared to forest Na'vis like the Omaticaya. In addition to their skin being a lighter shade of blue, their tail is more akin to a fishtail, and they have fin-like appendices on their arms to swim better.