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by lady fuschia on October 6th, 2006
There is no evidence to suggest mermaids are real, and I would suggest that mermaids in the sense you are probably thinking of are highly unlikely to exist. If you subscribe to the theory of evolution humans are a higher and more advanced lifeform than sea life, there is no conceivable evolutionary advantage to a creature half human, half fish. Human bodies - lungs and skin inparticular, are not designed for a life under water, particularly salt water.
However, the ocean is a big place, much of it unexplored, and the possibility of mermaid-like creatures, which may have been seen by sailors at various times is not out of the question- although it is unlikely that they would be humanoids or on the same evolutionary scale as humans so that we would be able to communicate on any meaningful level. After being at sea for several months, minus female company, sexually frustrated, tired and at times very drunk, its hardly surprising if the wishful thinking of weary imaginations turned distant dolphins and manatees (who have very human-like faces) into beautiful fish-tailed women.
Some manatees embracing in a strangely human manner:
http://www.idiyachts.com/images/manatees%20in%20Boot%20Key%20II.JPG
There are also groups of so called sea-nomads and sea gypsies, living around the far-flung coasts of Thailand and Indonesia. Whilst these people are as human as you or I, they spend a large percentage of their lives in water, have a diet consisting mainly of fish, and can hold their breath underwater for suprising amounts of time.
http://www.kolantamagazine.com/artman/publish/article_37.shtml
These people are often perceived as "fishlike" and its possible that, whilst human, these communities are very close to the real-life equivalent of the mermaids of legend.
by ChelseaMark on July 29th, 2007
Yes , I went out with one once . She left me when I bought fish and chips home one night . I felt such an idiot 'cos I really liked her.
by Zandalee.Lonely.Lunatic.3yrs-here on May 12th, 2007
~~coelocanths HAD to be extinct... then 'we' found one in 1938.
~~no creature could live in a volcanic vent on the ocean floor.... 1977 'we' photographed an entire community of new creatures who thrive in those conditions.
~~Rogue waves were myths... they could never happen. They were just stories fabricated by sailors.... 1995 an oil rig's sensors record one.
~~giant squid were only a myth; no such creature could exist.... September 2004 'we' caught a live one on camera.
So, based on this I have to say that I don't think it is out of the question. Do we have evidence? No.
However, how much do we 'really' know about our oceans? Things relagated to be strictly mythical have been proven before.
Are they real? We don't know.
Have people seen them? Stories date back very many years and exist in most cultures. If they do exist,
yes, people surely have seen them.
For now it is only a myth, and it will be until... well until a scientist locks one up. Until we can fully study one and determine it's authenticity.
I am not saying they 'do' exist; I am only saying 'we' have been wrong before. I don't think we should totally deny any possibilities.
Typically merpeople are depicted as half-human-half fish. However, just because the creature resembled a human doesn't mean it wasn't a strangely evolved fish.
I don't believe that dugongs or manatees fit the bill.
They don't look human. We just haven't gotten to the real root of it yet.
Are mermaids mythical or real?
Mythical.... until we discover something that says otherwise.
by Account Closed on August 26th, 2008
I won't pretend I have all the answers because just when someone thinks they know the answers, something comes along to disprove them. I have yet to see one if they are real. There has never been any positive documented proof that anyone has seen one. But the amazing thing about life is we haven't even touched the surface when it comes to finding new and exciting things, yet to be discovered.
by VSPrasad on October 26th, 2007
The most detailed account from the Weekly World News, recorded a mermaid being caught in a fishing net off of the coast of Florida on April 17, 2004. She was at least half-human, very sociable, and extremely intelligent. The mermaid measured five feet from the tip of her upturned nose to the end of her spiny, translucent tail. Experts which talked with WWN reporters say she was able to talk in a sophisticated "three dimensional language" that depends heavily on noises that could possibly be connected to the "click languages" prevalent in parts of Africa and on hand movements that look like sign language instructed to deaf people around the globe. A linguist who had spent several hours with the mermaid at an undisclosed marine study facility in Florida declared that once they are able to establish communication, everything known about human evolution, the specialness of human intelligence, everything thought about fish - "It's all going out the door". Four government agencies (at least) were reported as if involved in the care and study of the mermaid, including the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Institutes of Health.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weekly_World_News
http://www.thefeejeemermaid.com/gallery4.htm
http://www.thefeejeemermaid.com/index.htm
http://www.search.com/search?q=mermaid+captured&nav=1.10.4.10
http://www.search.com/search?q=Mermaid+Sightings
by Lady Justice on July 3rd, 2008
Mermaids can be real as much as unicorns are. I mean how could one say that they don't exist? I mean what if they was one right behind their back? Then right when they turn their back the unicorn follows it? I mean what if it was right outside their house?
by LoggyBren on July 3rd, 2008
Mermaids are as real as you want them to be. I want them to be real cause I think they are cool. I think we have some mermaids at AB. Prove-well I don't have prove that they are real. My question is can someone prove that they are not real?:D)
by stunada on July 3rd, 2008
Hate to burst the bubbhle but having spent 10 years in the NAVY as a small craft MKV boat assault attack boat coxwain I have never seen one and I have gone arround the world 3X but hay hell ya never know
by Voodoo on December 14th, 2007
Mermaids were the sea lions spotted by very horny and nutrient-deprived sailors in previous centuries. They would see them from their ships at a distance and think they looked like women. Plus, that probably hadn't seen a woman in ages, so their imaginations would be playing up.
by loveschimps on September 10th, 2007
I swam with one in the ocean near Seattle, she didn't tell me her name though....I know they are for real
by R.I.P. Gerald Malone on July 3rd, 2008
Yes! The little mermaid!! .....Lol, nah...j/k. As far as I know they don't exist...but, I really don't have proof..
by Taylor on January 19th, 2008
Many people believe that mermaids were actually manatees, dugongs, and (now extinct) sea cows.
Christopher Columbus even believed in mermaids and recorded his own mermaid sighting in the Caribbean.
Christopher Columbus reported seeing three mermaids in the ocean off of Haiti in January of 1493. He reported that they "came quite high out of the water", but were "not as pretty as they are depicted, for somehow in the face they look like men." (Cherry, 1995.) The "mermaids" described by Columbus were almost certainly manatees.
A short video:
http://www.history.com/media.do?id=tdih_jan09_broadband&action=clip
by Littlemisswallflower on October 28th, 2007
Thats like asking if big foot's real;
Depending on any particular person's opinion, beliefs etc. you're going to get different answers. Perhaps the most common answer is that no, they do not in fact exist. But I'm sure there would be those wiling to argue.
Actually, this may sound rather insane, but I'm convinced that when I was younger, I a dead mermaid thrown over a hill in my back yard. There were blue/green metalic scales, a disgusting stench, a patch of blue skin, and long shiny blue hair piled in a huge mass on top of the thing.
Really, It could have been something else entirely and my childhood mind was jumping to conclusions, but the memory is quite vivid.
Though I could also just be insane, which is pretty likley as well. :]
by Anonymous on August 25th, 2007
Mermaids and Mermen is just like anything else you may or may not believe in such as ghost and other crazy things.No one person can say for sure that they do not exist because there is no proof that they don't.If someone says that they have or thought they might have seen a figure in the sea that looked like a human-half fish who are you to say that it is not true.
I am a believer in all sorts of thing, like, ghost and i almost believe in mer people because it is an exciting thing just to think it is or could be possible........
by eMiLy(fr3sh) on October 2nd, 2008
Yes mermaids are real.
People think that they aren't.
My dad is a Seabioligist or however you spell it
and he recently found a tail that had scales.
him and his buddys have been doing research.
But so far, he said they ARE real
by casandrakumsung on September 18th, 2008
Sea Cows can not sit on rocks and comb their seaweed. They would die from their own weight. Sailors inlcusing Columbus, have seen humans with fins sitting on rocks completely out of water. So if it was not the rum or horny sailors then it could have been something else yet discovered.
by Superdoc on August 31st, 2008
Your last post was just complete senseful, yes i do believe anything can exist, i mean Anything. Since we only managed to explore some few % of all oceans, we cannot know for sure what is under the the deep dark water and even if such dont exist here, there is highest possibility that they exist in some other world other than Earth, perhaps we wouldn't discover this in our time but maybe in next few or hundred years or a thousand years, all our beliefs and imaginations would come true and there wouldn't be anyone to realize that we already know this will happen.
by Speedy G and passenger on August 26th, 2008
I wish they were cause then I'd wanna be one LoL :-)
by Thinker on August 25th, 2008
Yes, I have two down in my pond on the back 40 where I keep my jack-o-lopes!
by lobloblol is a lurker on July 28th, 2008
Yes. I do believe mermaids are real. Every time I go to the beach I just sit on the sand and stare into the water, hoping for a bright flash of a tail or a family of merpeople who chose me to expose themselves to. Then I go swimming or build a sandcastle.
by Barcaluv on June 25th, 2008
I know they're a myth or legend.
Heck, even manatees have been mistaken as mermaids : )
by Janie on October 2nd, 2007
i highly doubt it, but then again, i dont think we've (as in humans) have ever been to the deepest parts of the ocean...
by jin jang on September 10th, 2007
I don't believe anyone can truly say if they are real or not ,and if they exist they would not look half woman and half fish.Mankind has not yet found all the creatures that exist in the oceans or on land,so just because they have not been caught it is pretty close minded to think that such a thing could not exist.
by monster-freek on September 10th, 2007
Well its hard to say there real or fake cause the world is so weird that we still dont know whats out in the ocean or land so its hard to explain if its real or not.
by beatlegirl on May 12th, 2007
They are real in fantasy books. There haven't been any reports lately about real mermaids.
They have been dated back, as far as 5000 BC. Most known in Greek Mythology.
Theory has it that manatees and dugongs have been mistaken as mermaids, for their appearances.
Look more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaids
by taurusgilr77 on April 12th, 2007
In the minds of children. But in the real world, no. Just a non fictional thing created to amuse & occupy our minds
by OldCW wears The COAT of the Cosmos on November 21st, 2009
No they are not. They are a mythological creature.
by Anonymous on November 21st, 2009
Is this question for real?
by CuriousGeorge on April 10th, 2009
Yes. Here is a very interesting book about them -- with photos.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-zVG_fRCEtU/SUJQr7uufFI/AAAAAAAABPM/fojXcgfrNK8/s400/nude%2Bmermaid%2Bstatue.JPG&imgrefurl=http://mermaid-williambond.blogspot.com/2008/01/chapter-two-true-nature-of-mermaids_18.html&usg=__YCZGyvldhLFxKGwjEWSdU7c4Rmo=&h=300&w=400&sz=20&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=N47XEe71gE6PJM:&tbnh=93&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgiant%2Bmermaid%2Bstature%2BKerala%2Bbeach%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG
by EelKat on January 29th, 2009
Yes, mermaids are very real and there have been sightings. I do believe that they are a dieing race, because sightings in the past were much more numerous than sightings today. I wrote an article about this here, if you want to read more on my theories/sightings: http://www.squidoo.com/Amphibious-Aliens
While there are hundreds of mermaid sightings, there actually are no documented sightings of the fantasy style topless female with a fish tail. One problem is people have this glorified fantasy perception of what they think a mermaid is (ie a topless 5'6" female human with a fish tail), when in fact actual sightings never describe them in that manner. Most sightings describe them as "horrific", "monstrous", "demonic", or "looking fearsome". Most sightings also describe them as "small", usually between 4 to 5 feet. Usually they are said to have shark like fangs and bird like claws on webbed hands.
It does depend on where you look for mermaids. The problem is most people assume that they should look for mermaids in tropical locals (Hawaii, Florida, Bora-Bora, etc). While there are mermaid sightings in tropical locals, these sightings are extremely rare. More often the sightings are on Northern coastlines where there are countless rocky cliffs and caves. Sightings along river deltas are also more common than those on beaches. The rang of sightings suggests that mermaids are amphibious cold water creatures, who live on rocky cliffs and scurry to hide in the water when Humans approach.
Also it depends on what the mermaids are being called by those who see them. Not every one who sees a mermaid actually calls it a "mermaid". In resent years sightings are more commonly referred to as "aliens" rather than "mermaids", I think largely due to the popularity of Disney's Little Mermaid giving historical mermaids a "bad rap". Bad rap in that people in the past saw mermaids as monsters, demons, or evil vampire like beasts, and today every one hears the word mermaid and thinks "beautiful sweet-tempers young girl".
There is no question that these creatures are sighted, and have been sighted for thousands of years. The problem is that over the years, people have "glorified" their perceptions of what they think a mermaid "should" be instead of trying to determine what they actually are.
Oh, and I have spent the last 30 years studying mermaids, and have had my own sightings of them. (Though the fist sighting came prior to my studying them, and it was the sighting that resulted in my studying them as I wanted to find out what it was I had seen.) I am very much a believer that they are real, but I hold to the belief of the "grotesque" creatures described in the sightings, not the half-human-half-fish fantasy type. I believe they are not Human, and may in fact be from someplace other than Earth. You could safely say that merfolk are an obsession of mine.
by jhenny on November 24th, 2008
i dont know if they are real or not!!!!!!!all i know is we humans, animals,and trees are not the only things thats exist in this world
by casandrakumsung on September 17th, 2008
In the 70's scientists said the only giant squid is in Disney studios, Just myths.
We no little of what is in the ocean least of all other dimensions. So do not discount it because scientists say it does not exist. Look up forbidden science and forbidden archeology. They hide lots of finds because they do not fit in with the current beliefs.
by Greekgod on August 31st, 2008
Yes just as the word gullible has been taken out of the dictionary
by half a person on August 31st, 2008
Weren't those sighting proved to be of walruses or seacows or something? I'm sure I remember hearing that somewhere.
by mahjabeen on August 30th, 2008
i do not think they exist, but existed. just humour me for two minutes. there is no smoke without fire.
1.there is no single sea creature that i have seen that i would say i would think would be mistaken for human or partly human. if one does agree that deprivation, may it be sexual or other drove those sailors to see women, then how come there are no other equivalents on land? i mean men who are lost in the desert, on a desert island, in dense forest, men who have to go without food or water or sex for a long period, how come we do not have any such similar stories or accounts for these other situations or circumstances which would put a man in a similar state or frame of mind to see or imagine, may it be part or full, a woman?
2.if we did not have the appropriate technology tools and scientific knowledge, we would never have found creatures such as dinosaurs existed before our times, right or wrong? right.
so maybe we do not have the resources to find the proof that they existed. especially because they lived under the sea where it is, i would guess, difficult to go looking fo rmermaid remains. like you wont be able to stumble upon mermaid fossils like some people stumbled on irrefutable proofs that dinosaurs exist. we do not have the means to explore the sea, the seabed and the deapth properly. so we have stories of sightings, but no one can prove that they did not exist.
3.if they did exist, maybe they were on the same line as evolving as humans, but instead of evolving into what we have become, they evolved in a different way. one would certainly agree that the eco system of the planet is constantly changing. so it would not be surprising that thats what happened and that species could not survive for some reason for the last couple of centuries or something like that. maybe their predators increased and they were all eaten by sharks or something!! after all, dolphins were land animals arent they? and now they live only in the sea. back legs disappeared.they got tails. all we have to do is follow the evolutionary process of sea mamals and creature that breathe air.
i am open to discussion. i find this subject facinating. however, we did invent stuff like dragons and angels and the like(right!?)...so why not mermaids!?!
i think i just love the idea of mermaids because of the way they have been portrayed in films and stuff...so romantic, so misterious, so sexy!! and the implications of all this...who would not want to be able to become a mermaid, or merman and go and explore the sea, be able to breathe underwater, find all the treasures under the sea, unthinkable beauties, swim and able to talk to dolphins, sit on a white whale's back, being able to save sailors, fall in love...endless!!!!!
i would like to know anyone who doesnt want these things!!!
i think we should keep this legend (or whatever) alive! its too beautiful to let go of...although it portraits perfection, i think we need something like that to day dream about. this world is getting way too ugly.
by robinbird- gone on August 26th, 2008
I heard that sailors used to think manatees were mermaids. One must spend a long time on a boat to mistake a manatee for a woman...
by Brian I on August 26th, 2008
Unfortunately not.
by KingLeonidas on August 25th, 2008
Mermaids are as real as fairies. so if you want to see them take some lsd and go swim in the sea.
by abraca on July 28th, 2008
No. mermaids r not real. We have had enough deep water activity over the past few decades with oil exploration, marine reserch or geotechnical constructions to have seen evidence of them by now. That was a product of a time when the mystery of the sea provided cover for the creativity of valiant story tellers, akin to harp playing cherups above the cloud mat or african moonlight stories of evil forests complete with spirit dances and talking tortoises.
by Secretive woman on June 25th, 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5vyC9Inobg
At the end of this video, there is allegedly a mermaid skeleton.
by keithold is a prodigal bagger on February 14th, 2008
G'day Sunglisten2,
Thank you for your question.
No as much as I would like to.
Regards
by Starry101 on November 25th, 2007
YES
by Kevisaurus is a Carnotaurus today on November 11th, 2007
They usually don't lie.
by Anonymous on September 29th, 2007
im a secret discoverer and i have found proof i cant tell u any but i will tell u 1 detail H2O means water right and i have been on a trip on h2o mermaids i was swimming out in the deep blue adlantic sea when i stumbled across this underwater cave i went through and i went up and i was basicly coming up and i came out a whole i took my gas mask off and walked around im only telling u dis because i have been fired from the secret discovering work place in kent as i was sayingbim going to tell u all the secret goverment info i know. Then i saw a coffin inside there was a actwal mermaid write in front of me but yes dead but there still working down there thay could have found a live oneby now.
by FMsaziri on July 29th, 2007
No, but i wouldn't surprised if a "real" mermaid pic came out on the net sooner or later. Hell, probably there's already one around.
by Anonymous on September 30th, 2008
If u think i am not a mermaid ok thats fine,but i am
if u want ansers i will tell u them right now.Yes there is such things as mermaids.We live deep in the atlantic ocean we live 30,000 deep under water. and our favorite food is actually a pearl from clams,and we have wird names like esmeralda,joysiee, and emerald
my name is emrald if u would like to right me back just add a comment
by skettles on December 9th, 2008
i think the are im from jamaica and they are real creatures but my grand parents say they are not friendly so if you so happen to see one be very quiet because they are distructionof an waters.
by jennifertilly on January 12th, 2009
yea they are babiez have been born as 1.
they are living the now.
there are spells of them.
i hope i help.
by bazza on December 19th, 2008
Have you ever heard of the Dugong? We have lots of them in Western Australia. The Dugong is warm blooded, has a face like a pig but, the body parts of humans. The Mother suckles her young in the same way as humans. The reproductive organs are the same as humans. In the days long gone, sailors would catch them and have sex with them. The poor old Dugong carried venereal disease given to them by these dirty old sailors. Their other name is Sea Cow, they feed off ocean grasses and are a very gentle creature. They are now protected in Australia.
by upsidedown on October 27th, 2008
for all u people that think mermaids are real u is about as dum as my papa...NEWS FLASH : grow up people they are so not real.
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Comments
manatees do not even 'vaguely' resemble humans... facial or otherwise.
by Zandalee.Lonely.Lunatic.3yrs-here on May 12th, 2007
The layout of their faces is similar, even if they doon't actually "look" human I don't think it's too out of the question to think that a pair of embracing manatees at a distance seen by weary sailors could have been transformed by their minds into half human creatures.
by lady fuschia on May 13th, 2007
I found the article about the "sea-nomads" very interesting. However, I have to agree with Zandalee, it's a little farfetched in my opinion to say manatees look like humans. Even from a distance.
by SarahSultana on January 29th, 2009
Factor into the equation that a lot of the time their food was bad and their sex drive was pretty high. It is possible (but gross) that's what was going on.
by Andariel on June 20th, 2009
Lady fushica you are trying to make out they aren't real ... you don't know though. over a dozen of people in israle have claimed to seen a mermaid cleaning of rubbing her breast and if anyone gives real proof she is real then they get $1 million
xxxxx thanks for listening x
By Ellie x
by Elliexcx on January 24th, 2010
Dive master Jeff Leicher, 43, photographed the creature known as the "Kaiwi Point Mermaid" on April 12, 1998, as he and six other divers were exploring the ocean bottom about 20 minutes off Hawaii's sunny Kona coast.
Leicher points to the spot where he photographed the mermaid.
"I'd heard about her before," says Leicher, who operates Jack's Diving Locker. "Most of us who are out in these waters regularly have heard stories. But I'd never seen her until that morning.
"We were on our way out to the point when a school of dolphins started following the boat, playing in our wake. Suddenly one of the men on the port side starts yelling and pointing.
"I couldn't believe what I saw. There, not 10 feet from the bow, was what looked like a nude woman.
"She had long flowing hair and one of the most beautiful faces I've ever seen.
Image of mermaid was captured on film as she swam above divers exploring the ocean bottom on April 12. Photo ©1998 Jeff Leicher
"But there's no way a human being could be swimming so fast. She was keeping right up with the dolphins.
"Then she leapt into the air and my heart almost gave out on me. The entire lower half of her was covered with scales and tapered back into a huge fish tail.
"She jumped once more, then disappeared under the surface."
All 10 people on the boat witnessed the bizarre incident. But there was another incredible surprise still ahead.
"About an hour later we arrived at the point and we were diving. I was photographing some colorful fish with my underwater camera.
"Suddenly I felt something brush against my right leg. She shot by me like a streak of lightning, then turned and came back past me, swimming the other way. I just aimed the camera and started snapping pictures.
"I kept shooting as she broke for the surface and swam away."
Weekly World News had Leicher's pictures analyzed by three noted photography labs. All three say the photos are genuine and have not been tampered with.
The photos of the Kaiwi Point mermaid have been studied and authenticated by experts. Photo ©1998 Jeff Leicher
"I feel very lucky that I'm the one to finally prove to the world what people here have known for half a century," says Leicher.
"The Kaiwi Point Mermaid is real."
by Elliexcx on January 24th, 2010
my uncle has seen a real one and he has its video shooting!!!
by Karan_P on October 16th, 2010