The first option would to look like a marine mammals, whose thick blubber layers protect them from cold, dark waters. So what would a cold-hardy mermaid look like? 1: really hairy, or 2: really fat. Oceanic water temperature drops quickly below the surface- no matter what climate. And, once you get down a few meters, water temperature drops dramatically.

Assuming mermaids would want to live out in the bottom of the open ocean, it is just too cold for them. Sure, there are areas of the ocean that are above 70 degrees- on the SURFACE. The truth is, the human-like body form is not made for surviving long periods in the water. Especially those skinny Ariel/Disney types. (Cold Water Boot Camp/ US Coast Guard)ġ: They would freeze to death. It takes waters much above 70 degrees to maintain an individual (especially a lean one) for a prolonged period of time in the water without dying. Why couldn’t mermaids exist? Here are 5 reasons. Most scientists wouldn’t touch the subject of mermaids with a ten foot pole- I am going full contact. In fact, it worked so well that they produced another fictional (FICTIONAL!) docudrama, “Megalodon” for Shark Week. And who can blame them? People love mermaids, they delivered, and they made a ton of money. A critical look at the Animal Planet ‘docudrama’ reveals abominable (excuse the pun) CGI, combined with scripted interviews with actors. Mermaids were probably a lot more rooted in lonely sailors’ imaginations than the physical world. However, people took the show so seriously that in order to deal with massive amounts of inquiries, NOAA had to issue an official statement that, to their knowledge, mermaids aren’t real. That ‘documentary’ was in fact a new generation of fictional media called a ‘mockumentary’, or as Animal Planet puts it, ‘docudrama.’ It’s like “This is Spinal Tap” for marine biology. “Mermaids are real- I saw it on Animal Planet!” She is also author of, a marine debris blog focusing on the Pacific Northwest. Shea is a graduate student at Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute studying the behavioral ecology of pinnipeds. This guest post is brought to you by Sheanna Steingass.

Sonic project x mermaid