Mermaid: Half fish half woman.

Mermaid As I Would Like Them

I just read a disclaimer from NOAA (1) that mermaids do not exist. I immediately googled “mermaid images” to see what was out there. Interesting. From mummified hoaxes to Walt Disney. Mermaids abound in art, literature, folk lore and many other places.

As a biologist I have had to deal with students questions about mermaids from time to time. Questions about reproduction usually top the list. “How do they DO that if the bottom half is a fish?” Simple answer is “THEY DON”T BECAUSE THEY DON”T EXIST!!!” The lesson is really one of asking the right question. If you ask the right question you can expect to eventually get an answer that is reasonable. For example, if you ask “Why does the sun come up in the morning?” eventually you will be told the real reason. There may be alternative explanations to begin with, but sooner or later the correct one will surface.

But if you ask “Why is the moon made of green cheese?” you will NEVER get an answer that is correct, because it isn’t. The correct question should be “IS the moon made of green cheese?”

"Real" Mermaid Mummy

Back to mermaids. I have a question: “Why are nearly 100% of the images of mermaids shown with bras? Or some kind of breast covering? And where do they get the cloth? There is an answer to these questions. First, they aren’t covered with anything because they do not exist in reality. They exist in mythology. Folk lore. Imagination. The covering? Probably Judeo-Islamic-Christian abhorrence of the female anatomy. I bet if you find really old images of mermaids they are bare breasted. As nature intended. Gotta love nature.