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Animal Planet: Mermaids--the Body Found

Oh definately a spoof. How do they get away with this?
 
"Frivolous-not-serious"; but, have recently been on holiday on the Isle of Wight. Walking round Bembridge Harbour, we happened upon the houseboat residence of the artist Penelope Walford, who was running an exhibition therein of her work, titled "Evidence for Mermaids". The whole thing was splendidly tongue-in-cheek; but it took off from the (quoted there) US National Ocean Service's official statement, prompted by the film "Mermaids: The Body Found", pronouncing that "no evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found". Penelope had mounted various exhibits, giving supposed evidence to the contrary. Started with a "mermaid's purse" -- well-known oblong marine-life-form specimen -- and "went downhill from there" -- "mermaid coins" (approximately regular-sized coloured shell fragments), etc. All humorous and light-hearted; but, I feel, a nice take on the cryptozoological thing of battles over "what constitutes evidence?".
 
Have, possibly, too much time on my hands; but, a bit more "mermaidy" material, led to by stuff on another message board, has prompted this post. If it's thought to belong more properly under "folklore" or the like, no doubt mods will act. Incidentally, there's another "mermaids" thread here on "Cryptozoology - general" -- p.4 thereof. It's mentioned there, that the people of Zimbabwe (a slightly unlikely locale for the phenomenon, one feels) are "big" on mermaids.

A kind of aquatic humanoid -- in the US National Ocean Service's phrase -- which I feel that I'd like there to exist (at a safe distance away): the legendary Blue Men, allegedly dwelling in the waters of the Minch, the area of sea between the Scottish mainland and the Outer Hebrides. The following concerning them, is mostly quoted from the book "Sea Room" by Adam Nicolson, about that part of the world.

These beings -- the Blue Men or "Fear Gorm" in Gaelic -- are mer-people said to dwell underwater in the Minch. They are described as strange, dripping, semi-human creatures -- blue-green in colour -- who sometimes, in groups, come to the surface and board boats plying on the Minch. They sit alongside the boat's crew in the stern-sheets, and sing a verse or two of a complex song. Unless the mariners are able to continue the song, extempore, in the same metre and with the same rhyme; the Blue Men will sink the boat and drown its occupants.

There is a tale of a boat crossing the Minch, which came upon a blue-coloured man asleep on the surface of the water. The boat's crew captured him, took him on board, and bound him hand and foot. They were alarmed then, to see two other Blue Men swimming after the boat. These Blue Men spoke to each other thus: "Duncan will be one man", and "Farquhar will be two". This was clearly a threat to the crew; but luckily, before disaster could strike, the captive "broke his ropes, and over the side he went".

It has been suggested that the legend of the Blue Men might be a faint echo, lasting into modern times, of belief in Manannan the old Celtic sea-god; and before him, Poseidon.
 
There's to be a conference on the aquatic ape theory, featuring David Attenborough who'll apparently be giving his endorsement to the idea according to this article;
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/ ... -evolution

Personally I doubt he'll be doing that so much as commending the general nature of debate in this field.

If that article isn't odd enough then here's this load of old bollocks from the Mail, which asks Were Mermaids Real?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... gends.html

No.
 
Guardian, and Mail, links: re the former -- am inclined toward the not-very-intellectually-rigorous reflection that almost anything is -- however remotely -- possible, and that we're unlikely ever to be in a position to know for certain.

Re the latter, which offers the notion concerning the mermaid legend, that "this strand died out, but for a time, there were aquatic ape-like creatures". As above -- very little is totally impossible; but my gut feeling is, the more traditional (and somewhat hard to credit) manatees-and-dugongs "mermaid" explanation, feels likelier than this one.

Rather trivial spin-off from the Mail article and comments thereon -- mention made of "sea monkeys". Coincidentally, I was recently engrossed in a thread on another board, concerning pets and proper attitudes of pet-owners toward their pets, where a passing mention was made, of sea monkeys. The board being a chiefly American one, I was all set to enquire, "Clueless Brit wants to know: what in the world are sea monkeys?" This item here on FT, made that unnecessary.

It could be that all Forteans have been long since clued up about sea monkeys; but just in case not -- attempted precis of Wiki item about same: sea monkeys are basically brine shrimp, a group of crustaceans that undergo crytobiosos, and often sold in hatching kits as novelty aquarium pets. They were "invented" in 1957 by Harold von Braunhut. The product was heavily marketed, in a mixture of "real life" (the creatures called "sea monkeys" because of the supposed resemblance of their tails to those of monkeys, and their salt-water habitat) and comic books, particularly in cartoons by the illustrator Joe Orlando, showing aquatic humanoids which bear no resemblance to the crustaceans. It would seem that "sea monkeys" have been a household word in the USA, ever since.
 
Yeah, the advertising for those sea monkeys was pretty outrageous - wouldn't pass any laws about representation of goods these days.
 
I feel somewhat nonplussed at having gone through all those years and decades, totally unaware -- until just the other day -- of "sea monkeys"...

(Have just noticed: in my post of 2/5, I should have put "cryptobiosis" -- omitted the letter p.)
 
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