"Lets save our oceans before all creatures become mythical!" - Mermaid Melissa

Casting Mermaids / Mermen / Free Divers:

Underwater Specialty Acts / Stunts:

Behind the scenes - Stunts:

I have spent my entire life around the water, dreaming of being able to connect on a deeper level with the ocean. Growing up off the coast of Saint Augustine, Florida visiting Marineland weekly as a child, raised on a farm, tending to the animals, -it seems only natural that I would end up in a career field that also lets me live out my passions of being around the creatures of the sea.

Over the next several years I worked with a variety of animals for Universal Studios Animal Actors Show, on the set of movies, & a promotional model in LA. In 2005 I began my career at Sea World Orlando as an animal trainer working with killer whales, dolphins, and as professional pearl diver. The abilities perfected in the water started the nick name "Mermaid Melissa" because of my 4:18 breath hold, dolphin kick as I swam, and for being creative with new movements swimming in front of the crowds.

After a following on Youtube started to grow, so did the demand for more videos and new ideas. It always was the grand plan to become a professional Mermaid but actually executing it was not so simple.

I made many creative ideas, video concepts, story lines, and then finally started my mermaid research & invested in mermaids tails that has evolved in quality, beauty, & a realistic appeal that completed the journey of becoming a real mermaid.

Since my experience has grown leaps and bounds with traveling worldwide for projects and companies, the unique skills as a mermaid continue to grow.

Mermaid Melissa LLC is a fully insured & licensed independent contractor for hire. An elite underwater performer setting the bar in mermaid entertainment with her innovative original content.

Bringing you the most realistic one-of-a-kind conceptualized underwater shows in the world! Providing an educational & entertaining professional aquatic services both above & below the water for individuals & companies worldwide. "Let's save the oceans before all creatures become mythical"

Stay connected with all the latest up-to-date projects: Join the Mermaid Melissa fan page on facebook, youtube, & twitter!

About Me: Mermaid Melissa is a real life inspiration of living out your childhood dreams and making fantasy a reality. With a 4 minute breath hold, hands on experience working with killer whales, dolphins, sharks, stingrays, and performing in aquariums worldwide. Melissa has turned her nickname into a business and pursuing a passion she loves sharing her tale of wanting to be one with the animals of the sea. As a columnist for Mermaid Magazine, featured in news stories, articles, a children's book, & so much more! Join along and follow her mermaiding adventures as she shares her message with entertainment and education "Let's help save our oceans before all creatures become Mythical." http://www.mermaidmelissa.com Make a Splash at your next party or event by hiring Magical & Mythical Melissa who is known as a "Professional Real Life Mermaid" that will *Flip* your expectations and turn your pool party into an experience that is, "A scale above the rest!" http://www.hireamermaid.com Aquatic "Mer"age is a reflection of Mermaid Melissa LLC Production & it's members of our company that develop and deliver a fully packaged show, customized to each clients specifications. Our Elite team has an extensive live show entertainment background. We are a fully insured & licensed independent contractor for hire. Providing an educational & entertaining professional aquatic services both above & below the water for individuals & companies worldwide. An underwater team setting the bar in underwater Burlesque acts, & Mermaid entertainment -with innovative original content. Bringing you the most realistic one of a kind conceptualized underwater performances & show cases around the world. Contact: MermaidMelissa@gmail.com Stay connected with all the latest up-to-date projects: Join the Mermaid Melissa fan page on facebook, youtube, & twitter! In 2005 a successful aquatic youtube channel started a following watched by millions. 2012 the passion continues, with daily online social media updates, weekly new projects, underwater concepts, photo, & video shoots. A growing company mascot was born called, "Mermaid Melissa" known as Real Life Mermaid for hire. Using entertainment with education to inspire others to live their dreams sharing her underwater journey with the world. Today, Mermaid Melissa & her aquatic team travel for events & put on one of a kind underwater live performances. Booking appearances on TV, music videos, seen in magazines, choreographed aquariums shows, conventions, promotions, special events, Mermaid Birthday parties, stunt work, film & commercial projects. In her continued efforts to giving back, over the last several years, Melissa attends fund raisers & charity events. Donating her time & services to help both children in need, environmental, & animal related organization efforts that set out to help make a difference. I have spent my entire life around the water, dreaming of being able to connect on a deeper level with the ocean. Growing up off the coast of Saint Augustine, Florida visiting Marineland weekly as a child, raised on a farm, tending to the animals, -it seems only natural that I would end up in a career field that also lets me live out my passions of being around the creatures of the sea. Over the next several years I worked with a variety of animals for Universal Studios Animal Actors Show, on the set of movies, & a promotional model in LA. In 2005 I began my career at Sea World Orlando as an animal trainer working with killer whales, dolphins, and as professional pearl diver. The abilities perfected in the water started the nick name "Mermaid Melissa" because of my 4:18 breath hold, dolphin kick as I swam, and for being creative with new movements swimming in front of the crowds. After a following on Youtube started to grow, so did the demand for more videos and new ideas. It always was the grand plan to become a professional Mermaid but actually executing it was not so simple. I made many creative ideas, video concepts, story lines, and then finally started my mermaid research & invested in mermaids tails that has evolved in quality, beauty, & a realistic appeal that completed the journey of becoming a real mermaid. Since my experience has grown leaps and bounds with traveling worldwide for projects and companies, the unique skills as a mermaid continue to grow. "Lets save our oceans before all creatures become mythical!" - Mermaid Melissa "Aquatic Merage" is a reflection of the members of our company that develop and deliver a fully packaged show, customized to each clients specifications. Our Elite team has an extensive live show entertainment background. We are a fully insured & licensed independent contractor for hire. Providing an educational & entertaining professional aquatic services both above & below the water for individuals & companies worldwide. An underwater team setting the bar in underwater Burlesque acts, & Mermaid entertainment -with innovative original content. Bringing you the most realistic one of a kind conceptualized underwater performances & show cases around the world. http://www.aquaticmerage.com My lifestyle as a young surfer girl from Saint Augustine, Florida grew into something of a lifelong quest to achieve an aquatic career that seemed only a fantasy -that I was determined to make into my reality. What started as a summer hobby visiting the ocean, Marineland Aquarium, or in my pool from almost sunup to sundown, led to the realization early on (at age 12) that I could hold my breath for over 2 and a half minutes. With the nickname "fish" evolving into being called, "Dolphin" as my skill level improved... Trying to experiment by using a garden hose to try to breathe underwater, it quickly became apparent that this was not possible as an option as I had hoped! With my passion to stay submersed as long as possible, free diving was the natural progression that I pursued full time into livelihood. At the age of 13 this small town girl was becoming restless, like a big fish in a small pond. Moving felt like Orlando was Hollywood and the theme park entertainment capital. I quickly found my self in modeling and acting school working on The Disney Cruise Line National commercial, and at age 15 I found a job at Universal Studios Florida. Even then I was driven... With the goal in mind to work as a Ride and show attendant till I caught the attention of the Animal Actor show team, and at 16 was already hired on to be a cage cleaner. This opened the door for me to prove myself, working very hard and finally being part of the show, and even going on location to movie sets with my trained animals. After the thrill of working on so many film projects I moved to Los Angeles, California at 18 years old. This was my way of longing to travel and see the world and check of my long list of "things I wanted to do in life". I gained a lot of wisdom and the courage to take on rejection in LA. You need that type of exposure to learn what type of person you really are, what you will stand up for, what you will tolerate, and most importantly if you will let it beat you or grow stronger and apply it to your life while finding the positive. This same year, my career as a professional free diver was checked off my list of goals. Never would I have thought it possible to make a living from something that comes so natural to me and that I would otherwise have been doing in my free time if not getting paid to to this. Perfecting my record for breath holds, I worked my way up to 4 minutes & 18 seconds underwater. By working diligently on my Static Apnea Breath Hold, laying at the surface of the water allowed me to push the limits further to 5 minutes as a personal best. The next transfer in aquatic ventures was into working with marine mammals. Aquariums have always been an an inspiration to me as a child allowing me access to creatures I would have never otherwise known about. It was hard not to fall in love with their mysterious nature and become passionate to develop a strong rapport. This career path is physically demanding and a sacrifice of your personal life to dedicate to it your lifestyle, -it's not a 9am to 5pm job. The early shift were as early as 3am and the night shifts would end sometimes at midnight. The water is 52 degrees, and the trainers clean, prep food, and manage every chore and activity through out the day. After a 12 hour shift, 8 shows, soggy wetsuit, and a hint of fishy smell... I may have been exhausted, but loved the honor of being in the presence of such gorgeous powerful animals. If you were to view albums of me as a kid, it wouldn't be uncommon to see me in nature shirts, and a bedroom covered in posters that showcased the beauty of the ocean. There was never a day working hands-on with these killer whales (the length of a school bus) that I didn't at some point say to myself, "If only the child in me could have seen what I am doing now as an adult!" Dolphins were always my favorite animal and I was fortunate enough to have years working so many marine mammals and continue to work for Sea World over 7 years. I grew up by an inlet in Flagler County, Florida where dolphins were constantly around me when I would swim. I can recall holding my head underwater unable to see anything but hearing their clicks all around me like a morse code to come into their world. When it came time for me to work with these animals face to face, the adjustment came very easy having studied Marine Biology since I was a teen reading up on these fascinating animals of the sea. My respect for the planet grows daily from the relationships with animals, knowing that if we do not help them, who will? One of the final aspirations I had yet to realize was becoming something that everyone views as mythical... a mermaid. It was the ultimate fairy tale for any young girl who has watched "The Little Mermaid" and "Splash" -a way that I viewed to find a balance between staying human, and joining their world as part dolphin. Through much determination and imagination, I ventured into a field that no one viewed as an actual marketable skill & focused all my background knowledge into making this happen. With the momentum building from a lifetime of aquatic skills growing and evolving in my life daily... I have found my calling to reach the masses with a message, "Let's save the oceans before all creatures become mythical." As a mascot for the marine animals who have no voice, I worked hard to entertain those with a positive message on how to save our seas without the negative backlash one usually hears about how depressing and bleak our future could be. By spinning an educational message that is fresh & new, I continue to invite others to join me on new adventures on how to enjoy, save, and continue to share with others how to protect our blue planet. My future as a professional mermaid has yet to reach high tide in its potential and I have many more chapters that are about to be written. Our belief in dreams coming true can be lived, with each new passion that we pursue!

mermaidmelissa.com

A mermaid is a mythological aquatic creature with a female human head, arms, and torso and the tail of a fish. A male version of a mermaid is known as a "merman" and in general both males and females are known as "merfolk" or "merpeople". Mermaids are represented in the folklore, literature and popular culture of many countries worldwide.Mermaid From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Overview and etymology "Mermaid" is a compound of mer, the French word for "sea", and maid, a girl or young woman. In modern times, the mermaid is used as an official animal/mascot of many mythical stories involving pirates and the sea. It is also associated with "sea cows" that are called manatees. Sailors would see the animals and categorize them as mythical mermaids. Traditionally, mermaids have been depicted unclothed. When censorship is an issue, most prominently in movies, effort is made to have the mermaids’ long hair cover their breasts. In areas with strong censorship, notably in some U.S. family movies, mermaids have been wearing different variants of tops or swimsuits. The sirens of Greek mythology are sometimes portrayed in later folklore as mermaid-like and thus are often considered to be the same or similar creatures.[1] In stories of mermaids, some would use their beauty and charm to lure sailor men to their deaths; sirens would use their singing to lure sailors toward rocks, causing their ships to sink.[1] Other related types of mythical or legendary creatures are water fairies (e.g., various water nymphs) and selkies, animals that can transform themselves from seals to humans.[citation needed] History [edit] Ancient Near East The first known mermaid stories appeared in Assyria, ca. 1000 BC. The goddess Atargatis, mother of Assyrian queen Semiramis, loved a mortal shepherd and unintentionally killed him. Ashamed, she jumped into a lake to take the form of a fish, but the waters would not conceal her divine beauty. Thereafter, she took the form of a mermaid-human above the waist, fish below—though the earliest representations of Atargatis showed her as a fish with a human head and arm, similar to the Babylonian Ea. The Greeks recognized Atargatis under the name Derketo. Prior to 546 BC, the Milesian philosopher Anaximander proposed that mankind had sprung from an aquatic species of animal. He thought that humans, with their extended infancy, could not have survived otherwise. A popular Greek legend turns Alexander the Great's sister, Thessalonike, into a mermaid after she died.[2] She lived, it was said, in the Aegean and when she encountered a ship, she asked its sailors only one question: "Is King Alexander alive?" (Greek: "Ζει ο Βασιλιάς Αλέξανδρος;"), to which the correct answer was: "He lives and reigns and conquers the world" (Greek: "Ζει και βασιλεύει και τον κόσμο κυριεύει"). This answer pleased her so she calmed the waters and wished the ship farewell. Any other answer would spur her into a rage. She would raise a terrible storm, with certain doom for the ship and every sailor on board.[3][4] Lucian of Samosata in Syria (2nd century AD) in De Dea Syria ("Concerning the Syrian Goddess") wrote of the Syrian temples he had visited: "Among them – Now that is the traditional story among them concerning the temple. But other men swear that Semiramis of Babylonia, whose deeds are many in Asia, also founded this site, and not for Hera Atargatis but for her own Mother, whose name was Derketo" "I saw the likeness of Derketo in Phoenicia, a strange marvel. It is woman for half its length, but the other half, from thighs to feet, stretched out in a fish's tail. But the image in the Holy City is entirely a woman, and the grounds for their account are not very clear. They consider fish to be sacred, and they never eat them; and though they eat all other fowls, they do not eat the dove, for she is holy so they believe. And these things are done, they believe, because of Derketo and Semiramis, the first because Derketo has the shape of a fish, and the other because ultimately Semiramis turned into a dove. Well, I may grant that the temple was a work of Semiramis perhaps; but that it belongs to Derketo I do not believe in any way. For among the Egyptians, some people do not eat fish, and that is not done to honor Derketo."[5] Arabian Nights The One Thousand and One Nights includes several tales featuring "Sea People", such as Djullanar the Sea-girl. Unlike the depiction in other mythologies, these are anatomically identical to land-bound humans, differing only in their ability to breathe and live underwater. They can (and do) interbreed with land humans, the children of such unions sharing in the ability to live underwater. In another Arabian Nights tale,r "Abdullah the Fisherman and Abdullah the Merman", the protagonist Abdullah the Fisherman gains the ability to breathe underwater and discovers an underwater submarine society that is portrayed as an inverted reflection of society on land, in that the underwater society follows a form of primitive communism where concepts like money and clothing do not exist. Other Arabian Nights tales deal with lost ancient technologies, advanced ancient civilizations that went astray, and catastrophes which overwhelmed them.[6] In "The Adventures of Bulukiya", the protagonist Bulukiya's quest for the herb of immortality leads him to explore the seas, where he encounters societies of mermaids.[7] "Julnar the Sea-Born and Her Son King Badr Basim of Persia" is yet another Arabian Nights tale about mermaids. When sailors come the mermaids sing, and some men are led straight to their doom. If they follow the mermaids' lovely and beautiful voices, they do not know what they are doing or where they're going. British Isles The Norman Chapel in Durham Castle, built around 1078 by Saxon stonemasons has what is reputed to be one of the earliest artistic depictions of a Mermaid in England. It can be seen on a south-facing capital above one of the original Norman stone pillars.[8] Mermaids were noted in British folklore as unlucky omens – both foretelling disaster and provoking it.[9] Several variants of the ballad Sir Patrick Spens depict a mermaid speaking to the doomed ships; in some, she tells them they will never see land again, and in others, she claims they are near shore, which they are wise enough to know means the same thing. Mermaids can also be a sign of approaching rough weather.[10] Some mermaids were described as monstrous in size, up to 2,000 feet (610 m).[9] Mermaids have also been described as being able to swim up rivers to freshwater lakes. One day, in a lake near his house, the Laird of Lorntie went to aid a woman he thought drowning; a servant of his pulled him back, warning that it was a mermaid, and the mermaid screamed after that she would have killed him if it were not for his servant.[11] On occasion, mermaids could be more beneficent, teaching humans cures for disease.[12] Some tales raised the question of whether mermaids had immortal souls, answering in the negative.[13] The figure of Lí Ban appears as a sanctified mermaid, but she was a human being transformed into a mermaid; after three centuries, when Christianity had come to Ireland, she was baptized.[14] Mermen were noted as wilder and uglier than mermaids, and they were described as having little interest in humans.[15] In Scottish mythology, there is a mermaid called the ceasg or "maid of the wave".[16] China In some ancient fairy tales of China, the mermaid was a special creature whose tears could turn into priceless pearls. Mermaids could also weave an extremely valuable material, translucent and beautiful. Because of this, fishermen longed to catch them, but the mermaids' splendid singing could simply drag them down into a coma. In other Chinese legends, the mermaid is wondrous, but brainless and easy to trap. The legend said that mermaids were born with purple tails that smelled of happiness, but if sadness or death occurred during the mermaids' lifetimes their tails would turn red, and smell like sadness. So fishermen longed to catch mermaids in order to sniff their purple or red tails. Ramayana Suvannamaccha (lit. golden mermaid) is a daughter of Ravana that appears in the Cambodian and Thai versions of the Indian Ramayana. She is a mermaid princess who tries to spoil Hanuman's plans to build a bridge to Lanka but falls in love with him instead. In Indian mythology, Matsya Avatar (Merman) is the first incarnation of Lord Vishnu, who has lower part of the body like a fish, and upper part like that of a man. He has four arms; with two hands he holds a conch shell and wheel, while the other two are holding a lotus or a mace.[citation needed] [edit] Scandinavia The Danish story, The Little Mermaid, tells of a mermaid who just turned 15 years old wanting to know about the world above. While exploring the world, she notices a ship and swims directly to it. On the ship, she falls in love with the prince. A storm came, wrecked the ship and drowned the prince. The Little Mermaid immediately swam down to save him and carried him off to dry land. She looks into the prince's eyes until she hears humans walking to the beach. She dives into the sea to hide. She goes to madame Sea Witch to make a potion to make her human. After drinking the potion, she magically turns to human. At the end of the story, she jumps into the ocean and turns to foam. She became a daughter of the Air and flew with the others. [edit] Warsaw mermaid The mermaid, or syrenka, is the symbol of Warsaw.[17] Images of a mermaid symbolized Warsaw on its crest since the middle of the 14th century.[18] Several legends associate Triton of mythology with the city, which may have been the mermaid association's origin.[19] [edit] Other Among the Neo-Taíno nations of the Caribbean the mermaid is called Aycayia.[20][21] Her attributes relate to the goddess Jagua[disambiguation needed ], and the hibiscus flower of the majagua tree Hibiscus tiliaceus.[22] In modern Caribbean culture, the mermaid is found as Haitian Vodou Lwa La Sirene (literally, 'the mermaid') who is lwa of wealth and beauty and the orisha Yemaya. Examples from other cultures are the Mami Wata of West and Central Africa, the Jengu of Cameroon, the Merrow of Ireland and Scotland, the Rusalkas of Russia and Ukraine, the Iara from Brazil and the Greek Oceanids, Nereids, and Naiads. One freshwater mermaid-like creature from European folklore is Melusine, who is sometimes depicted with two fish tails, and other times with the lower body of a serpent. It is said in Japan that eating the flesh of a ningyo can grant unaging immortality. In some European legends mermaids are said to be unlucky.[citation needed] Mermaids and mermen are also characters of Philippine folklore, where they are locally known as sirena and siyokoy, respectively.[23] The Javanese people believe that the southern beach in Java is a home of Javanese mermaid queen Nyi Roro Kidul.[citation needed] In "Sadko" (Russian: Садко), a Russian medieval epic, the title character – an adventurer, merchant and gusli musician from Novgorod – lives for some time in the underwater court of the "Sea Tsar" and marries his daughter before finally returning home. The tale inspired such works as the poem "Sadko"[24] by Alexei Tolstoy (1871–1872), the opera Sadko composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and the painting by Ilya Repin. Claimed sightings Claimed sightings of dead or living mermaids have come from places as diverse as Java and British Columbia. There are two Canadian reports from the area of Vancouver and Victoria, one from sometime between 1870 and 1890, the other from 1967.[25][26] In some of the earliest accounts of Blackbeard's sail logs in the BBC documentary Pirates, he instructed his crew on several voyages to steer away from charted waters which he called "enchanted" for fear of Merfolk or mermaids, which Blackbeard and many members of the crew reported seeing and documenting.[27] These sighting were often recounted and shared by many sailors and pirates who believed the mermaids were bad luck and would bewitch them into giving up their gold and dragging them to the bottom of the seas. In August 2009, the town of Kiryat Yam in Israel offered a prize of $1 million for anyone who could prove the existence of a mermaid off its coast, after dozens of people reported seeing a mermaid leaping out of the water like a dolphin and doing aerial tricks before returning to the depths.[28] The prize has not yet been awarded. In February 2012, work on two reservoirs near the towns of Gokwe and Mutare in Zimbabwe stopped when workers refused to work there, claiming that mermaids had hounded them away from the sites. The claim was reported by Samuel Sipepa Nkomo, Water Resources Minister.[29] [edit] Symbolism According to Dorothy Dinnerstein’s book, The Mermaid and the Minotaur, human-animal hybrids such as the minotaur and the mermaid convey the emergent understanding of the ancients that human beings were both one with and different from animals: "[Human] nature is internally inconsistent, that our continuities with, and our differences from, the earth's other animals are mysterious and profound; and in these continuities, and these differences, lie both a sense of strangeness on earth and the possible key to a way of feeling at home here."[30] Human divers For centuries, in Japan and other Pacific island countries, female Ama divers would swim nude searching for shellfish. These divers slowly developed the ability to hold their breath for long periods of time and to survive in cold water that would kill most people from hypothermia. Women make better divers than men because of their physiological advantages in tolerating cold. After surfacing they would hyperventilate to restore their oxygen levels which would make a loud sighing sound referred to as the isobue or "sea whistle" or in Japanese as the "song of the sea". They needed to rest periodically and so after diving, as aid to maintaining lung capacity, these women frequently would sing loud songs and this may have been the origin of the Siren myth. It is plausable that ancient sailors might have encountered these divers and assumed they were not human because of their ability to withstand the cold water and to submerge for several minutes at a time. There were laws restricting poaching in the sea so local village people would have had an interest in propagating and reinforcing the Siren and Mermaid myths to protect the divers and their wealth. The tradition of women divers has been documented in many other countries outside of Asia. In fact, many of the early artistic depictions of mermaids showed normal human women with legs rather than the typical fish-tail of the modern mythical image.[31][s Art and literature See also: Mermaids in popular culture One influential image was created by John William Waterhouse, from 1895 to 1905, entitled A Mermaid, (see the top of this article). An example of late British Academy style artwork, the piece debuted to considerable acclaim (and secured Waterhouse's place as a member of the Royal Academy), but disappeared into a private collection and did not resurface until the 1970s. It is currently once again in the collection of the Royal Academy.[32] Famous in more recent centuries is Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Little Mermaid (1836), which has been translated into many languages. Andersen's portrayal, immortalized with a famous bronze sculpture in Copenhagen harbour, has arguably become the standard and has influenced most modern Western depictions of mermaids since it was published. The mermaid, as conceived by Andersen, appears to represent the Undines of Paracelsus, which also could only obtain an immortal soul by marrying a human being.[citation needed] The best known musical depictions of mermaids are those by Felix Mendelssohn in his Fair Melusina overture and the three "Rhine daughters" in Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. Lorelei, the name of one of the Rhine mermaids, has become a synonym for a siren. A more recent depiction in contemporary concert music is The Weeping Mermaid by Taiwanese composer Fan-Long Ko.[citation needed] Sue Monk Kidd has written a book called The Mermaid Chair. The title comes from a mermaid who becomes a (fictional) saint. Saint James Comics published an 8-page comic in which the mermaid queen Atargatis captures two adventurers and attempts to imprison them forever. Movie depictions include the comedy Splash (1984) and "Aquamarine"(2006). A 1963 episode, The Cruelest Sea, of the television series Route 66, featured a real mermaid working at Weeki Wachee aquatic park. Mermaids also appeared in the popular supernatural drama television series Charmed, and were the basis of its spin-off series Mermaid. In Mermaid Chronicles Part 1: She Creature (2001), two carnival workers abduct a mermaid in Ireland, circa 1900, and attempt to transport her to America. In Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides old and new myths about mermaids are mixed. Mermaids are said to sing to sailors to entice them and enchant them into the water. Once in the water, they take the sailor down to the depths of the sea where the sailor drowns, and the mermaids eat them. Mermaids that are taken onto dry land change and have legs, but they will dry up and die if out of water too long. The kiss of a mermaid will physically heal a human, and her tears have magical properties, needed to activate the true power of the Fountain of Youth. Animated films include Disney's musical version of Andersen's tale, The Little Mermaid, and Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo. The Australian teen dramedy H2O: Just Add Water, chronicles the adventures of three, modern-day mermaids along the Gold Coast of Australia.   Coat of arms of Warsaw [edit] Heraldry In heraldry, the charge of a mermaid is commonly represented with a comb and a mirror, and blazoned as a 'mermaid in her vanity'. Merfolk were used to symbolize eloquence in speech.[citation needed] A shield and sword-wielding mermaid (Syrenka) is on the official Coat of arms of Warsaw. The city of Norfolk, Virginia also uses a mermaid as a symbol. The personal coat of arms of Michaëlle Jean, a former Governor General of Canada, features two mermaids as supporters.[33] [edit] Hoaxes During the Renaissance and Baroque eras, dugongs, frauds and victims of sirenomelia were exhibited in wunderkammers as mermaids.[citation needed] In the 19th century, P. T. Barnum displayed in his museum a taxidermal hoax called the Fiji mermaid. Others have perpetrated similar hoaxes, which are usually papier-mâché fabrications or parts of deceased creatures, usually monkeys and fish, stitched together for the appearance of a grotesque mermaid. In the wake of the 2004 tsunami, pictures of Fiji "mermaids" circulated on the Internet as supposed examples of items that had washed up amid the devastation, though they were no more real than Barnum's exhibit.[34] [edit] Sirenia Sirenia is an order of fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals that inhabit rivers, estuaries, coastal marine waters, swamps, and marine wetlands. Sirenians, including manatees and the dugong, have major aquatic adaptations: arms used for steering, a paddle used for propulsion, hind limbs (legs) are two small bones floating deep in the muscle. They appear fat, but are fusiform, hydrodynamic, and highly muscular. Prior to the mid 19th century, mariners referred to these animals as mermaids.[35] [edit] Sirenomelia Sirenomelia, also called "mermaid syndrome", is a rare congenital disorder in which a child is born with his or her legs fused together and reduced genitalia. This condition is about as rare as conjoined twins, affecting one out of every 100,000 live births[36] and is usually fatal within a day or two of birth because of kidney and bladder complications. Four survivors were known to be alive as of July 2003.[37] [edit] See also • Cryptid • Ichthyosis • List of piscine and amphibian humanoids • Merlion • Sea monster • Selkie [edit] References Notes 1. ^ a b Enzler, M. S.. "Water mythology". Lenntech. Retrieved February 20, 2012. 2. ^ Teacher's Guide[dead link] 3. ^ Mermaids and Ikons: A Greek Summer (1978) page 73 by Gwendolyn MacEwen ISBN 978-0-88784-062-3 4. ^ Folktales from Greece Page 96 ISBN 1-56308-908-4 5. ^ Lucian of Samosata, De Dea Syria Part 2, Chapter 14 6. ^ Irwin, Robert (2003). The Arabian Nights: A Companion. Tauris Parke Paperbacks. pp. 211–2. ISBN 1860649831 7. ^ Irwin, Robert (2003). One Thousand and One Nights: A Companion. Tauris Parke Paperbacks. p. 209. ISBN 1860649831 8. ^ Durham World Heritage Site http://www.durhamworldheritagesite.com/architecture/castle/intro/north-range/norman-chapel 9. ^ a b Katharine Briggs, An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures, "Mermaids", p 287. ISBN 0-394-73467-X 10. ^ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 2, p 19, Dover Publications, New York 1965 11. ^ K. M. Briggs, The Fairies in English Tradition and Literature, p 57 University of Chicago Press, London, 1967 12. ^ K. M. Briggs, An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures, "Mermaids", p 288. ISBN 0-394-73467-X 13. ^ K. M. Briggs, An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures, "Mermaids", p 289. ISBN 0-394-73467-X 14. ^ K. M. Briggs, An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures, "Liban", p 266-7. ISBN 0-394-73467-X 15. ^ K. M. Briggs, An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures, "Mermen", p 290. ISBN 0-394-73467-X 16. ^ MacKenzie, Donald A. (1931). Scottish Folk-Lore and Folk Life — Studies in Race, Culture and Tradition. Blackie. pp. 251. ISBN 9781444656367. 17. ^ "The Mermaid". Retrieved 2008-02-11. 18. ^ "Warsaw Mermaid's Statue". Retrieved 2008-07-10. 19. ^ (English) "History of Warsaw's Coat of Arms". www.e-warsaw.pl. Retrieved 2008-07-10. The mermaid is used as an official animal/mascot of many mythical stories involving pirates and the sea. It is also associated with "sea cows" that are called manatees. Sailors would see the animals and categorize them as mythical mermaids. I think this is an important fact, that we mention real humans converting into realistic mermaids for careers to be features in aquariums, zoos, theme parks, ads, and a means to take this fictitious animal and turn it into a mascot for promotion to save our seas on an environmental standpoint. Famous examples of women who become "Professional Real Life Mermaids" can be found at: www.hireamermaid.com 20. ^ Diccionario de Argot Cubano - Conexion Cubana ! 21. ^ Bennett, Lennie (July 10, 2008). "Four exhibitions woven into 'Textures'". tampabay.com. St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2009-04-25. 22. ^ Hibiscus tiliaceus - Hau (Malvaceae) - Plants of Hawaii 23. ^ "Tagalog-English Dictionary by Leo James English, Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, Manila, distributed by National Book Store, 1583 pages, ISBN 971-91055-0-X 24. ^ "A History of Russian Poetry", by Evelyn Bristol, 1991, ISBN 0195046595, p. 149 25. ^ Myths & Legends 26. ^ Folklore Examples in British Columbia 27. ^ "Pirates". BBC Radio World Service. Retrieved July 26, 2011. 28. ^ "Is a mermaid living under the sea in Kiryat Yam?", Haaretz 12 Aug. 2009. 29. ^ Newling, Dan (6 February 2012). "Reason for Zimbabwe reservoir delays... mermaids have been hounding workers away!". Daily Mail. Retrieved 8 February 2012. 30. ^ Dorothy Dinnerstein, The Mermaid and the Minotaur. New York: Harper and Row, 1963. Cited by Northstar Gallery 31. ^ "Mermaids Are Real!". mermaid-williambond.blogspot.com. William Bond. January 19, 2008. Retrieved November 24, 2011. 32. ^ Prettejohn, Elizabeth et al (2008). J. W. Waterhouse: The Modern Pre-Raphaelite, p. 144. Thames & Hudson Ltd, London. ISBN 978-90-8586-490-5. 33. ^ Canadian Heraldic Authority (20 September 2005). "The Public Register of Arms, Flags, and Badges of Canada > Michaëlle Jean". Queen's Printer for Canada. Retrieved 23 September 2008. 34. ^ Urban Legends Reference Pages: Mermaid to Order 35. ^ "Experts: Sea cow 'sirens' fuel mermaid mythology; sailors' deprivation sparked images". underwatertimes.com. December 25, 2005. Retrieved October 30, 2009. 36. ^ Kallen B, Castilla EE, Lancaster PA, Mutchinick O, Knudsen LB, Martinez-Frias ML, Mastroiacovo P, Robert E (1992). "The cyclops and the mermaid: an epidemiological study of two types of rare malformation". J Med Genet 29 (1): 30–5. doi:10.1136/jmg.29.1.30. PMC 1015818. PMID 1552541. 37. ^ "Journal of Pediatric Surgery: A surviving infant with sirenomelia (mermaid syndrome) associated with absent bladder". ScienceDirect. 25 July 2003. Retrieved 2008-02-16. Further reading • Andreas Kraß: Meerjungfrauen. Geschichten einer unmöglichen Liebe. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2010. [edit] External links  Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mermaid  Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Mermaids  Wikisource has original text related to this article: Portal:Mermaids • 17th century pamphlet telling the story of an alleged sighting of a mermaid near Pendine, Wales, in 1603 • Israeli city offers reward for proof of mermaid presence on its shore

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