Fear the deep - Sirens, mermaids, and what’s behind them

 

It’s not a secret, that I love sirens, they are my favorite mythical creatures of all time. There is a whole world deep under the water that we know nothing about. More than 80% of the oceans are undiscovered and what we don’t know we fill with imagination. It is sometimes horrible monsters – which is quite close to reality, if you’ve ever seen deep-sea fish you know what I’m talking about. They are formidable. But sometimes we imagine whole civilizations live down under with half-human half-fish merman, sometimes more advanced than we are–the remains of Atlantis for example in Aquaman–, sometimes feral, predatory creatures more animal than humans – like in our favourite show, Freeform’s Siren.

I. Origins

We can discover traces of mermaid folklore in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa too, but today’s pop culture was influenced by Greek mythology and Homer’s Odyssey. Sirens in that story were half-human half-bird creatures with a song that drives sailors mad, only in the medieval era they became half-fish people. Historical accounts of mermaids exist as far back as the voyage of Christopher Columbus, during his exploration of the Caribbean. These were probably just sightings of manatees or similar aquatic mammals, like dugongs and even seals, but the possibility for something more is always there.

There is also a symptom called sirenomelia, that could fuel the mermaid tales – so now we are facing a creature that has multiple origins. 

Sirenomelia is easily recognizable as the unification (or more precisely a failed separation) of the lower limbs. As with cyclopia, the main root of the problem is that human embryos start out their lives as a tube-like formation of tissue that later separates into the two body-halves regulated by genes and substances called morphogenes. When this separation is disrupted somehow for the lower limbs, the end result looks alike to a mermaid’s fin. This condition has four classes depending on how early the disruption happened, Class I meaning there is only one set of bones, while in Class IV every separate bone is present, but soft tissue sticks them together. 

The cause of this extremely rare congenital disorder was a really hot topic in medicine in the 20th century. The earliest theory suggests it is a matter of blood insufficiency, as this disorder often pairs with the malformation of the lower part of the aorta (the largest blood vessel in our body), and the blood supply isn’t enough to nurture two legs, thus forcing the body to compromise. Other theories suggest the cause is similar to other birth defects – genetic mutation, teratogenic agents (chemicals that cause birth defects, I know, it’s a bit redundant as explanation goes), or physical trauma to the embryo in early stages. Whichever is responsible, this seldom sighted defect could be present from the earliest part of human history, creating the trauma that turned into a myth.

 

II. Mermaid sightings

Nowadays most mythical creatures are considered fairytales. Nobody believes in fairies, cyclopses, and centaurs anymore, but it’s not the case with sirens. From time to time people are claiming that they saw something in the water, and with the technology becoming more and more advanced so does the fake videos presented as proof of creatures similar to sirens. I think it’s the easiest if I show you a video with footage from several sightings.

Most of these videos sadly turned out to be hoax. I even found a documentary that seemed real, but all the “scientists” were south-African actors…

Those who believe in conspiracy theories claim that the governments want to keep their existence a secret – and even if this is the truth, I think they should keep it a secret. Whether they are intelligent, or human-shaped animals (which is more likely), at the rate we poison the oceans with chemicals, oil, and trash, they are either an endangered species or close to extinction. The last thing these deep-sea creatures need is people disturbing them further.

Okay, now it seems that I believe in mermaids. The truth is, a deep-sea creature may exist that can remind people of sirens, hell, they even can be as intelligent as a dolphin – and they are highly intelligent animals – but I don’t think that there are civilizations down there like ours. They would likely want to kill us because of what we do to our planet, and as you can see, screenwriters and showrunners agree with me.

So unless you want to get skewered on a whalebone spear, take a step towards preserving our oceans or pray these mythical creatures are just that—a myth.