The Mer--Let's Get Real, Shall We?

The traditional description of the mermaid is half-girl and half-fish. That, both biologically and dramatically, is just ridiculous. If the mermaid were half-fish, then why does she move her tail up and down and not side-to-side as fish should? No, my first proposal is to make the mer (the whole race, not just the females), half human and half dolphin (or porpoise).

Now the first issue to address is hair. In classic literature, the girl half of the mermaid has long, flowing hair. Not only is this too clear-cut, which is biologically impossible, but it would create way too much drag. So my proposal is this--either make the mer short-haired (think "pixie cuts") or all-out bald. Either choice would reduce drag substantially.

As for the face itself, my original proposal is to reduce the nose into flat nostril slits, since smell is of no use to an air-breathing mammal that spends its entire life underwater. But my proposal to keep the human face is way more interesting, and here's how--How to Breathe Both on Land and Under the SEA

Of course, the proposal for tetrachromacy (having four color receptors) is valid here, too. Also, if one wants to tackle the Amazonian legend of the Boto, we'd might as well give the mers the tapetum lucidum, a layer of tissue behind the retina that reflects light, increasing the availability to photoreceptors, though at the risk of losing detail. (However, tetrachromacy might be a way around this problem.)

How would a mer vocalize to attract a mate--be it mer or human? Would it echolocate using the melon, as cetaceans do? Or maybe something less front-heavy--an enlarged vocal sac, just like frogs or gibbons?

The final issue to address is coloring. Unlike the centaur, the mer's transition between two species is smooth and natural, but they are still colored separately. My proposal is to give both halves one color scheme, based on the following cetaceans:

• Orca
• Atlantic Spotted Dolphin
• Pacific White-Side Dolphin
• Bottlenose Dolphin
• False Killer Whale

Are any of my proposals listed above sound, or have I created some unintentional side effects to the mer body?

posted about 8 years ago

JohnWDailey‭

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