This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Wayland (talk | contribs) at 12:38, 23 February 2004 (Miranda and Loralei). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 12:38, 23 February 2004 by Wayland (talk | contribs) (Miranda and Loralei)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
A mermaid is a legendary creature with a female human head and torso (if it's male, it's called a merman) and the tail of a fish, which inhabits the water. Some sailors claim to have seen mermaids; what they actually saw are probably manatees. A freshwater mermaid-like creature having two tails is a melusine, or a Nixie.
In heraldry, the charge of a mermaid is commonly represented with a comb and a mirror, and blazoned as a 'mermaid in her vanity.'
In the 19th century, P. T. Barnum displayed in his museum a taxidermy hoax that was represented as the Feejee (sic) Mermaid.
Mermaids are present in many movies, books, etc., and have become one of the most popular creatures of Pop Culture. The first time a mermaid was envisioned within her own culture was apparently the one in Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid, which was embodied in a bronze sculpture in Copenhagen harbor and much later was turned into a Disney movie. Other popular movies to feature a mermaid were Miranda, starring Glynis Johns and Splash, starring Daryl Hannah. For many years the comic book hero Superman had a romantic love interest with a mermaid woman called Lorelei (one of Superman's "LL" connections: Lex Luthor, Lana Lang, Lois Lane, Lora Lei). Mermaids and Mermen (called Merpeople) are present in the Harry Potter series, specifically in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.