Webbed hands, possibly a melon in the head like a dolphin used for echolocation, very large eyes etc. If they had hair at all it'd be scattered around their bodies like dolphins.
They would also likely not be mammals because if their scaled tails. If they were mammals though, they wouldn't have breasts but mammary glands similar to dolphins. If mermaids were real they probably wouldn't look like humans at all.
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· 6 years ago
They'd likely be apes or cetaceans of some sort, maybe a sirenian
Maybe we're thinking about it the wrong way. After all, they are known for dragging sailors into the depths to eat. There are plenty of sea worms and jellyfish with all sorts of weird shapes. Perhaps a mermaid is like that, a silhouette of a woman which waits to envelop its prey in hairlike feelers and swallow it.
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· 6 years ago
Kinda doubt that, as humans haven't been seafarers for very long.
I think the idea of mermaids having scales is just fabrication. They probably have blubber for warmth similar to dolphins. The hair on their head is also probably fine and short to prevent drag in the water. They also probably have smaller ears for the same reason.
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· 7 years ago
Has anyone seen that "Mermaids" "documentary" that fooled a shit ton of people? I know it's all fake etc (obvs) but I think the information of how the mermaids anatomy would have been seems pretty logical. Makes much more sense than trying to make Mermaids chubby and dark skinned. Sounds more like a walrus than a mermaid tbh.
Seems like the person who tweeted this just wanted to make the idea of mermaids to look more like them because they don't fit the original perception and it makes them feel bad.
I saw that! When they showed "evidence" the CGI was so obvious, buy people will believe anything. The best part about this is that animal planet did a fake mermaid documentary BEFORE. AP managed to fool people twice
Wasn't Kim Kardashian fooled by the "documentary"?
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· 7 years ago
Probably. A baked bean has more brain cells than her.
@mightyoak yeah they did two docs. First was about the existence of mermaids the second was "new evidence" etc.
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Edited 7 years ago
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· 7 years ago
I love animal planet. They keep the documentaries a few years apart so people will forget about the one before
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· 6 years ago
And new people get fooled. It's genius lol
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· 7 years ago
Water actually isn't too bad at protecting you from uv radiation, especially if you are submerged in it, so they wouldn't need to be dark skinned
Not shallow water, that's why albino dolphins and hippos tend to get very badly sunburned. Some melanin would help protect their skin, but its more likely they would develop a darker or even a gray skin color to protect from the rays.
Think about all the underwater mammals. Seals, walruses, whales, manatees, and dolphins. All of them have a good layer of fat beneath their skin. So a mermaid would at least be pretty smoothed out.
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· 7 years ago
They aren't human so your rules don't apply to them! They could have blue skin and black hair for all we know!
Except they might be. If you consider they're mammals their closest relatives would be dolphins. They would probably have blubber for protection they would also probably have a dorsal fin or dorsal ridge. There are most likely several different species or ecotypes depending on habitat and diet. They are probably contrasted dark and light to have camouflage. They probably have very fine hair that isn't that long to prevent drag in the water. And they probably need to breed and raise their young on land like seals and sea lions considering they most likely breathe air
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· 5 years ago
Why would they need to raise their young on land? Whales and dolphins don’t need to
They might or might not. Pinnepeds (seals, sea lions, and walrus) are raised on land for a few reasons. Unlike cetaceans (whales and dolphins) they don't know how to swim at birth. Based on their anatomy they also can't nurse underwater like dolphins can. But if mermaids resemble humans in some way the way pinnepeds resemble certain terrestrial animals (they're said to have evolved from some sort of cat or bear) they would not be soley aquatic. But obviously this is all just speculation
But cetaceans moved to water 300 million years ago. Pinnepeds moved to water 60 million years ago. They still have nails and ear flaps that resemble their terrestrial ancestors. Dolphins and whales have already evolved well beyond that just through time alone. But if the myth that mermaids have heads, torsos, arms, and hands similar to humans we have cause to believe it wasn't more than 100 million years they came to be aquatic.
Then again were not sure if they do since the image of a mermaid is still considered myth
...yet the half fish, half human part is TOTALLY realistic.
The myth was created to prevent the embarrassment of reality; that lonely sailers were bumming manatees.
Cause seawater is awful for your hair
Imagine Ariel being bald!
Seems like the person who tweeted this just wanted to make the idea of mermaids to look more like them because they don't fit the original perception and it makes them feel bad.
@mightyoak yeah they did two docs. First was about the existence of mermaids the second was "new evidence" etc.
Then again were not sure if they do since the image of a mermaid is still considered myth
The myth was created to prevent the embarrassment of reality; that lonely sailers were bumming manatees.