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[BigRedDog]

(RNN) - The experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration took a break from their usual hurricane-season duties to provide you with this timely tidbit - there is no such thing as a mermaid.
 
NOAA, which provides valuable information and warnings regarding hurricanes and tropical storms, posted a statement on its website proclaiming to the world that "no evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found."
 
But there are plenty of colorful legends floating around the world.
 
"In the ancient Far East, mermaids were the wives of powerful sea-dragons, and served as trusted messengers between their spouses and the emperors on land," according to NOAA.
 
Tsunami sirens have taken over these duties in the modern world.

 
Speaking of another sort of siren, Homer's classic epic poem The Odyssey did almost as good a job of glorifying nonexistent sea creatures as Fifty Shades of Grey did of glorifying, well, you know.

More at:  http://www.toledonewsnow.com/story/18950808/in-case-you-didnt-know-mermaids-are-not-real

[Collegekid]

I beg to differ, she is very real, I've met her.

[Skittelroo]

She's not just "any" mermaid, either!   She's an ERIEmermaid!    There's a difference, I'm sure.

[eriemermaid]

I just pinched myself and I AM REAL!!  Ouch! 

[Maverick]

I think I see the problem here.
The study that BRD sited was no doubt a salt water mermaid study. As we all know a fresh water study would have significantly different results.

[MM1]

Oh yes.  You're the REAL DEAL! ! ! ! ! ! ! 

[eriemermaid]

 

[Professor H]

well not having met the famous Erie one - I only have this one to go by:


Hannah Mermaid
hannahmermaid.com/

I think the real fuss was this documentary - funny how they felt they needed to respond to animal planets TV show

http://animal.discovery.com/tv-shows/other/videos/mermaids.htm

[eriemermaid]

Wow, I thought I didn't have any more photographs out there!  Thanks for "outing" me Professor H!!
 
        

[Professor H]

Wow, I thought I didn't have any more photographs out there!  Thanks for "outing" me Professor H!!

At least I got your good side... 
 
I would have posted the Statue of you from Denmark
but it was sculpted in your "wild" days as its a nude 

[Frenchfry]

Here's the direct source of the story:

No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found

'The Jewel of Norfolk,' a fanciful mermaid sculpture located in Norfolk, Virginia.

Mermaids — those half-human, half-fish sirens of the sea — are legendary sea creatures chronicled in maritime cultures since time immemorial. The ancient Greek epic poet Homer wrote of them in The Odyssey. In the ancient Far East, mermaids were the wives of powerful sea-dragons, and served as trusted messengers between their spouses and the emperors on land. The aboriginal people of Australia call mermaids yawkyawks – a name that may refer to their mesmerizing songs.
19th century artist rendering of mermaids in the ocean   

The belief in mermaids may have arisen at the very dawn of our species. Magical female figures first appear in cave paintings in the late Paleolithic (Stone Age) period some 30,000 years ago, when modern humans  gained dominion over the land and, presumably, began to sail the seas. Half-human creatures, called chimeras, also abound in mythology — in addition to mermaids, there were wise centaurs, wild satyrs, and frightful minotaurs, to name but a few.

But are mermaids real? No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found. Why, then, do they occupy the collective unconscious of nearly all seafaring peoples? That’s a question best left to historians, philosophers, and anthropologists.
http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/mermaids.html