Half Fish Mythical Creature

Overtime, we have heard of the little tales of the half human half fish mythical creature. They’re either these beautiful creatures just roaming around the ocean or these awful evil creatures that lure you to your death. Somewhere along the literary and mythological road, mermaids and sirens got confused into one creature: a half-woman, half-fish creature known for her beautiful singing voice. Originally, it was only the mermaid that was a half-human, half-fish creature, and a singing voice wasn’t mentioned in early myths.

Mermaids have been in myths and folklore since their first appearance in ancient Babylonian stories. Era, the fish god, was half man and half fish; after that, it was the Greek god Triton (or from the little mermaid). In fact, it was the Greeks who gave us the first descriptions of mermaids. Living specimens were said to have been examined by writers such as Pausanias in the second century, and were described as having scales covering their entire bodies, gills, a fish-like mouth, and a scaly tail like a dolphin’s.

But according to the mythical tales, it was the nereids—these goddesses of the sea that came to the aid of sailors in distress—of Greek mythology who gave rise to the tales of the mermaids that were so popular among later sailors’ tales.

They were given the features traditionally associated with the mermaid, half beautiful woman, half fish. The Greek hero Achilles was born of a mermaid, and some Greek families today still claim mermaid blood in their lineage (i.e. me except I’m pretty sure I’m not Greek). Nereids were found anywhere there was water, including springs and wells. While mermaids have always been enchanting, it’s been more their appearance than their singing voice like the

sirens.
Sirens were the singers, and they were actually half-woman, half-bird creatures. Supposedly of such beauty that sailors would forget what they were doing, and simply stop to listen. Ships would crash on the rocks around the sirens’ island, killing those who fell prey to their song. Basically luring these sailors to their death. But the sirens were never half-woman and half-fish creatures. Originally, there were only three sirens, and they started out as mortal human women who were the handmaidens of Persephone, daughter of the goddess Demeter. When Persephone was abducted by Hades, Demeter gifted the three girls with the bodies of birds so they could help search for the lost girl. When they couldn’t find her they eventually gave up and went to live on the island of Anthemoessa, cursed by Demeter (who was angry at their abandonment of the search) to remain in their half-bird form. The sirens were further cursed when they entered a singing competition with the Muses and lost the contest as well as their wings and many of their feathers.
In today’s pop culture world, the mermaid and the siren are often portrayed as the same character. They’re inevitably a beautiful woman from the waist up and a fish from the waist down, and they’re noted for their enchanting singing voices. Both were seen as these beautiful pieces of art. Or your biggest nightmare. But for today’s generation, we see them as the character Ariel from the little mermaid. Almost every girl has wanted to be a mermaid because of this little Disney character. We wanted to be “Part of That World” because who didn’t want to see the mysteries beyond what a human can’t see?