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Articles: Folklore | MERMAID (A BRIEF Study)
- Mr. VIRABHADRA SASTRI KALANADHABHATTA
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| MERMAID
Mermaid is an illusionary species of legendary being that inhabits the sea and some inland waters. These characterized mostly in mythological as divine or semi divine such as the Sea Goddess. The mermaids are personified as half human unto waist and half fish in the bottom. These are otherwise called Sirens. In the European folk love stories, mermaids were natural beings possessing magical and prophetic powers like fairies. They loved music, and considered as mortal but with no souls.
In some stories, it was told that the mermaids were married to mortal men and blessed with kids. Usually these mermaids possess certain objective like caps or belts without which they could not go back to sea. So hiding these objects to keep them on the earth and also to have them under control could captivate them. But it is legendry, fantasy. Many have claimed to have seen them, but it is simply a sheer mistaken identity of other sea creatures like mammals.
What are these sea creatures that have some nearest resemblance to the mermaids described in mythology.
(Sea Cow)
This is the picture of a sea cow. It belongs the sea mammals group called serene. This sea cow was discovered in 1741 near the Commander islands in the Bering sea. At that time, their number was enumerated between 1000 to 2000 which gradually decreased as a result of hunting by the sailors for food and by 1765 they were extinct. These sea cowls lived in the shallow water near the shore feeding on sea weed. It was a large mammal about 23 feet long and 9000 pounds (4100 Kgs) in weight.
(Dugong)
This is the picture of a second type of mammal called Dugong, aplant eating sea creature. This lives in the shallow warm coastal waters of the Red sea and the Indian ocean as far South as Australia. This is a rare sea mammal with a blunt, mounded snout and a bristly upper lip. Its whale like body has a notch tail. The ends of the upper jaw bend downwards. It is 10 to 13 feet long and weighs 650 pounds (295 Kgs). It is in brownish or grayish colour. This was also subjected to hunting for its hide, meat and oil.
(Manatee)
The third one is Manatee. This is another type of sea cow as it belongs to the same group. These manatees are specified into three groups: The West Indian Manatee, The Amazon Manatee, and the African Manatee. These Manatees feed on water plants that grow in fresh or the salt water. Its upper lip is divided into two halves to work as pliers on the plants. It can consume more than 100 pounds of water plants in a day. It is 14 feet long and weighs 1500 pounds ( 600 kgs). It has got only front peddled legs and no hinder legs at all. It has also got a round tail.
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