Dagon his name; sea-monster, upward man
And downward fish; yet had his temple high;
Rear'd in Azotus, dreaded through the coast
Of Palestine, in Gath and Ascalon,
And Accaron and Gaza's frontier bounds.
—John Milton, Paradise Lost
Caution: The allegations made in the various reports quoted below, claiming the occurrence of this distant cross, have not been confirmed via the genetic testing of a specimen.
Fish-human hybrids are often called mermaids or mermen and are generally seen as mythical beings. In Ireland they are known as merrows. The Romans called them tritons.
Tales of such creatures date far back in time to ancient Mesopotamia, where various gods and goddesses were portrayed with forms that were part human and part fish. The Greeks and Romans believed in the actual existence of such creatures. Thus, there is the tale of Thessalonike, sister of Alexander the Great, who was supposedly transformed into a mermaid and lived on for centuries in the waters of the Aegean Sea. The Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder (9.4) stated that
An embassy from Lisbon sent for the purpose reported to the Emperor Tiberius that a triton had been seen and heard playing on a shell in a certain cave, and that he had the well-known shape.
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Ancient Roman mosaic,Merida, Spain (Flickr, David Jones, CC BY 2.0).
But there have also been many purportedly nonfiction reports of fish-human hybrids of far more recent date, most of which involve infants with bizarre fishlike characteristics, and not the adult beings that frequent folklore and ancient mythology.
For example, the following news story appeared in the May 27, 1909, issue of the Viennese newspaper Deutsches Volksblatt (p. 23, cols. 1 & 2):
Half Human Half Fish
A horrible monstrosity
From Toplița in Hungary: While out on a walk in the Romanian village of Palota near Toplița, two women found on the street a bundled infant, which was shrieking at the top of its lungs. They picked it up and carried it to the notary, by whom it was unwrapped in the presence of the local doctor Michael Frisch. Those present were seized with a terrible horror, for a hideous freak, a middle thing between human and fish, came to light. Its upper body was that of a human infant, but from the waist down the body was completely that of a fish and, instead of feet, it had the complete tail of a fish, which the foundling wagged merrily to and fro. This hideous monstrosity was swaddled in linen and had around its neck a small purse containing five Austrian hundred crown bills and a piece of paper with the words in Romanian: “Tomme vereste!” (God keep thee!). Marie Roznan, a Romanian peasant, took the creature, which, incidentally, wept like an ordinary human infant, to nurse it. But it bit her breast with such force that it could not, with any amount of tugging, be removed. After much delay, she went to Dr. Frisch, but the resulting wound had already become gangrenous, and she had to undergo a serious operation. The monster had to be sent to the hospital in Budapest. [Translated by E. M. McCarthy. Original German.]
Perhaps this was a case of sirenomelia (see pictures below)?
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Cases of sirenomelia? Or are they perhaps fish-human hybrids? Above: Image of specimen at left is from Schatz (1901, p. 12), at right, from Wikimedia. Below: Another case as pictured in Grebe (1954, p. 99, Abb. 5b).
A rather lengthy article about a fish-human hybrid appeared in the Mineral Point, Wisconsin, newspaper Iowa County Democrat (Apr. 24, 1891, p. 4, col. 7):
A SINGULAR FREAK
A Cleveland Boy who Was Born With Scales on His Body Like a Fish.
A wonderful freak of nature has been living in Cleveland, Ohio, for a number of years, and it has been kept a secret until now.
It is a boy, 7 years old, that is in many respects a fish. His face is handsome, but the beauty of the boy only extends to the neck. Below that the little fellow’s body is literally covered with a solid coating of fish scales.
The boy’s name is Herman Schepler, and he lives with his parents and a brother and sister at 738 ½ St. Clair Street. He is an exceptionally bright little fellow and is one of the most apt scholars in his class.
Although the boy is 7 years old, the most intimate friends of the Shepler family are not aware of the fact that he is so horribly afflicted. The parents have taken every precaution to keep the child’s condition a secret, ant it was only by mere accident that the facts became known to a reporter of the Cleveland paper.
Herman was visiting the house of a friend named Fredericks on Clinton Street, where the writer saw him and made an examination of his skin.
This sight indeed was a wonderful one, and the contrast between the pretty face of the child and the fish-like appearance of the remainder of his body was striking in the extreme.
The scales are of a dark blue color and cover the body so thoroughly that not the slightest portion of skin bearing the resemblance of a human being is visible.
The scales do not seem to trouble him except in the fall of the year, when they fade away to a considerable extent and render his body quite itchy.
After examining little “Hermie” very closely and feeling the shiny scales for some time, the reporter called on the mother of the afflicted boy and interrogated her concerning her son’s condition. Mrs. Schepler at first refused to have anything to say on the subject and seemed greatly surprised and worried that the matter should have leaked out.
After a great deal of persuasion the poor woman burst into tears and finally admitted that her boy had been covered with the blue scales at birth.
“Have you any idea of what the cause of your son’s condition is, Mrs. Schepler?”
“Well, the only cause to which I can attribute it is a little incident that occurred one afternoon shortly before Hermie was born. My husband was always a great hand for fishing, and we lived close to the water, he very frequently went out and fished for a few hours at a time. On this particular occasion he brought in about a dozen or so of fish, and it being nearly supper time, he asked me to cook some of them for him.”
“I immediately set about preparing the fish for his supper, and the very first one I took hold of, a large, blue pike, being still alive, jumped out of my hands and frightened me awfully. I screamed and almost swooned away. Hermie was born within a few weeks of that time, and, as I have told you, he came into the world covered with the shiny bluish scales, and they seem to scatter more and more every season.”
“Have you noticed anything else strange about the child?”
“No, not particularly, except that he is just wild for water. Whenever it rains it is simply impossible to keep the poor little fellow inside. He will take off his hat and run around the yard as though he enjoyed it immensely. He loves music and can sing nicely.”
Article continues belowReport about a fish-child (New York Evening World, Jun. 12, 1889, p. 2).
Another report about a fish human appeared in the Austin, Texas, newspaper Weekly Statesman (Apr. 5, 1894, p. 1, col. 6):
A Human Monstrosity
Special to The Statesman.
Brenham, Tex., April 3.—A negro woman near Burton has given birth to a monstrosity. The trunk and head are fishlike even to the gills, and there are fins instead of arms, but the legs are natural and well formed. The negroes are much excited and claim that the woman was conjured. The monster was stillborn.
Burton is a village outside the city of Brenham, Texas.
A second story about the same birth provides some additional details. It appeared in the Fort Worth, Texas, Gazette (Apr. 4, 1894, p. 2, col. 5):
A CHILD MONSTROSITY
A Negro Woman Gives Birth to a Strange Child
Brenham, Tex., April 3.—Dr. Lass, attending physician, reports the birth of a strange monstrosity, a negro woman near Burton being the mother. The upper part of the body, including the head, was the perfect reproduction of a red-snapper fish, while the lower limbs were perfect and natural.
With regard to this birth, it was elsewhere stated that
The upper part of its body was exactly like a red-snapper fish—scales, fins, gills and all. It was stillborn, and the attendant physician [Dr. Lass] offered its parents $10 for it, which they refused.
How is one to account for the birth of this tertium quid? The red snapper spawning season in the northern Gulf of Mexico begins in May and ends in late September. During this time male snappers release their sperm en masse into the waters of the gulf, peaking during May, June and July. A woman giving birth on April 3 would, with a pregnancy of ordinary, human length, most likely have conceived sometime around July 8 of the previous year. According to Wikipedia, the Brazos River, “was important for navigation before and after the American Civil War, and steam boats sailed as far up the river as Washington-on-the-Brazos.” Thus, steamboats providing easy transit to the coast would have come within about ten miles of Burton, Texas, in 1880.
A Child Born with Fins Like a Fish Seen in Topeka.
There passed through the city yesterday a monstrosity which was a sad sight to look upon. It was a boy by the name of Billy Letsinger, whose parents were enroute from Missouri to the western part of Kansas, whee they expect to locate a home. The little fellow, although exceedingly bright and intelligent fo a child at the age of 3 years, was horribly deformed. In the place of the usually developed arms there was a fin like that of a fish, and the strangeness of the fact is that a back fin was fully developed and as natural as on one of the animals in the water. His legs were fully developed until they reached the ankle joint, when instead of feet they expanded into a paddle shaped fin, something in shape of tha beaver's tail. The only deformity about the head was the mouth, which resembled that of a spoon fish, the lower jaw extending nearly an inch and a half forward of the upper. His parents, who seem to be of average intelligence, cannot explain the deformity, except tha it arises from the fact that when crossing the ocean to come to this country about three years ago, and just before the child was born, Mrs. Lesinger became frightened by the appearance one day of several hurge sharks, which followed the vessel several miles. Mr. and Mrs. Letsinger kely feel the condition of their only child, and a smuch as possible keep him from the eyes of the public.
Medical Men to Examine the Babe with the Devil Fish Mouth.
Elizabeth, N. J., Feb. 7.—The monstrosity born recently in this city to Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Bigert, of 622 Cameron Place, is to be exhibited to the medical men of Union County at the next monthly meeting of the Union County Medical Society, when the subject of removing the abnormal growth that makes the child so hideous and gives its mouth the appearance of a fish snout, will be discussed.
Dr. Mravlage, who attended the mother after the child’s birth, said last night to an “Evening World” reporter that the parents wanted the infant killed when they saw is frightful appearance.
The following account describes a living mer-person. It appeared in column 4 of the front page, of the August 11, 1860, issue of The Emporia News, a newspaper published in Emporia, Kansas (source):
A Missouri River Mermaid.—The Weston (Mo.) Mail tells a huge story of a fish, which is rather hard to digest, this hot weather—we refer to the story, not the fish, it appears that two residents of the above-named place, while out fishing, caught a large animal which had a half human, half fish appearance. Here is the description of it:
“It is decidedly a curious creature, being over five feet in length, with head, eyes, ears and nose like a man, and a belly somewhat barrel-shaped. In all other respects it is like a fish. The creature was still alive when we saw it, which prevented the daguerreotype man from taking a picture of it. We are under great obligations to Mr. B. for sending for us to examine it, together with several scientific gentlemen of our city, who pronounced the creature to be a species of hybrid fresh water mermaid. We believe it is the intention of Mr. Birch to have it stuffed and send it to Barnum.”
The following appeared in column 3 of the front page of the January 11, 1915, issue of the Harrisburg Telegraph, a newspaper published in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (source):
INFANT RESEMBLES MERMAID
Monstrosity in Maryland Museum Puzzles Many Scientists
Special to The Telegraph.
Baltimore, Md., Jan. 11.—An infant born last Wednesday to a negress of Salisbury, Md., and which died at birth, is now in the museum of the Maryland University Hospital, a puzzle to scientists of the State University and to those of Johns Hopkins.
The body, which measures twenty-eight inches [71 cm], is proportioned so as to resemble in every detail the mythical mermaid. From the waistline it tapers into a solid mass, at the ends of which the feet protrude like a V, forming a finny-like substance. To the child’s tail the bones, which have merged into one, are covered with rough scaly skin, partly ossified. The skin was nearly white.
Similarly, in his Accounts of Anatomical Rarities (Historiarum Anatomicarum Rariorum, Hafniae, 1654, Centuria II, p. 241), the Danish physician Thomas Bartholin (1616-1680) states that
At Paris, on St. Benedict’s Day [March 21], 1645, after a pregnancy of six months, a woman gave birth to a child with a head nearly like that of a carp, although the tongue was large and the remainder of the face, flat. A large mass hung from either side of the top of the head. On its flank was a fleshy mass like the liver of a fish. [Translated by E. M. McCarthy. Original Latin.]
Another child with the head of a carp was reported in American newspapers, only in this case it lived for years after birth. The type of carp is actually named—buffalo fish, which may refer to either Ictiobus bubalus, small-mouthed buffalo fish or Ictiobus cyprinellus, large-mouthed buffalo fish, both of which are native to the Mississippi and its tributaries. The report, as it appeared in the Fort Worth Weekly Gazette (Jun. 17, 1887, p. 3, col. 6), a newspaper published in Fort Worth, Texas:
WITH THE HEAD OF A FISH
The Queer Freak of Nature to be Seen in the Helena Poorhouse
Helena (Ark.) Special.
A human-fish. Detail from The Witches’ Sabbath (17th century) after David Teniers the Younger (1610-1690).
The poorhouse here [i.e., Helena, Arkansas] contains a strange freak of nature. This is a boy between seven and eight years of age, a typical negro child, excepting from his neck up. He was born at Old Town, about twenty miles from Helena. The boy, or boy fish, as he is called, has a very indistinct articulation [i.e., manner of speech]. He has no palate. His head is held always on his breast, as if it was closely articulated [i.e., connected] with it, or in fact, part of the breast. It is oblong and his forehead recedes from a point below the eyes to the crown of the head. At an early age there were scales on his back which very much resembled the scales on a buffalo fish. They have, in the course of time, worn away, leaving only a whitish mark similar in size to the scales.
His eyes protrude from their sockets at least a quarter of an inch, and are perfectly sightless; he moves them in a way similar to that of a fish. It is thought by his keeper that, though sightless out of water, by some dispensation he is able to see distinctly when his eyes are under the water. When he comes in the vicinity of water, or when it rains, he has peculiar convulsions and moves his arms as a fish does its fins.There is in the middle of his forehead a ridge of the hardness of gristle, resembling the furrows in a buffalo fish’s head, which appears very distinctly in the morning, but as evening advances it disappears, and when night comes it is gone entirely, only to return with its usual distinctness in the morning.
The range of the Buffalo Fish (Ictiobus bubalus) includes most of Arkansas.
An additional report about a fish-headed boy appeared in the Tombstone Prospector (Aug. 5, 1896, p. 4, col. 3), a newspaper published in Tombstone, Arizona:
AN EARLESS BOY
Also He Has a Fish Mouth and No Chin
A freak of nature in the shape of a 16-year-old boy without ears has been discovered at East Brady, a little town on the Allegheny River. The lad is Frank Collins. Until recently he was an inmate of the Duncansville poorhouse. For several years museum managers have been after him, but the poor authorities refuse to allow him to be exhibited. As he is now over 16 they think he will not be ill-treated but have decided not to "rent" him until he is of age.
In addition to having no ears he has a fish mouth and is deaf and dumb. The sides of his head are smooth except where the lobe of the ear should be. At this spot there is a slight growth that projects above the side of the head. His forehead is low. The top of the head slopes until it reaches the back of the cranium. He has little or no chin and his mouth projects to such an extent that it has the appearance of the mouth of a fish. His head is covered with a sparse growth of thin hair. The remainder of the lad's body is perfect. His hands and feet are very small.
Cartoon fish-human hybrids (J. J. Grandville, Les Métamorphoses du Jour).
Another fish-human mix was briefly described in the French magazine Mercure Gallant (1683, p. 307-309). In translation, the report reads:
On the 15th of this month [i.e., December], the wife of S. Dulu, the master roaster doing business at the corner of Rue des Petits Champs,† gave birth to an infant with the head of a whiting.* Its right eye was extremely small, as was its mouth. The ears were lens-shaped [“like lentils”], with the exception of a small hole in the middle of each. There was no left eye, no nose and no lips. And in place of shoulders there was a lump of flesh about ten inches long and seven or eight inches wide. The umbilicus was a thin string. The legs were fused, with neither bone nor thighs. The arms, the fingers and the feet were like those of a child. This woman, who was pregnant for only six and a half months, experienced extraordinary pain from midnight until seven in the morning, when she was delivered by Madame le Tellier, a midwife residing in the Rue de la Huchette. This child lived for a time outside its mother’s womb. It was baptized and after its death was interred at the Church of Saint-Roch,‡ the mother’s parish church. [Translated by E. M. McCarthy. Original French.]
* The French word used was merlan, i.e., Merlangius merlangus.
† A street in the 1st and 2nd arrondissements of Paris.
‡ A church located at 284 Rue Saint-Honoré, in the 1st arrondissement, founded in 1653.
A whiting (Merlangius merlangus)
Another, very early, case is described by the French physician Nicolas de La Roche in his book De morbis mulierum curandis, (1542, p. 202). There he states that a young woman “well known to him” gave birth, at the “Castle of Saint Amand” (probably Château de Montrond at Saint-Amand-Montrond), to an offspring that was human from the waist up, but fish from there down. It lived an hour, he says, and was baptized. Perhaps a case of sirenomelia?
The account below swam onto the pages of many British Empire publications, but the transcript quoted here was netted from The West Australian (Jul. 9, 1935, p. 17, col. 4), a newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia.
A “MERMAID” IN LONDON
Scientists Baffled
LONDON.—A strange mummified body, half human, half fish, has turned up in London to baffle scientists and doctors. What, is it? Is it human, or animal? Does it prove that mermaids actually existed? No one here can answer these riddles. Perhaps some South Sea sailor or traveller can suggest a solution to the mystery. The mummy has the skull and upper vertebrae of a human being; human arms and hands; the lower structure and tail of a fish, and traces of scales instead of skin.
The existence of the “mermaid” was revealed for the first time this week when it passed into the hands of a London dealer for sale. “The Eighth Wonder of the World. Mermaid Found in Sierra Leone. Offers Wanted.” That was how it was advertised for sale in the shop window of Mr. W. Katz. Immediately it excited widespread interest. Already scores of people have made offers for it. Famous doctors and biologists have come to examine it— and gone away, baffled. After the closest examination, they can only report that the physical structure of the mermaid is that of the normal human being, but instead of legs it has the tail of a fish.
“The inscription below the mermaid’s case shows that it was first the property of Dr. Graham, colonial surgeon at Sierra Leone,” Mr. Katz explained. “Later the mermaid was bought by a private collector, who brought it over to Britain. When he died his estate was dispersed and the mummy passed to a friend. Both that person and the next owner died shortly after the mermaid passed into their possession. It is at present owned by a London woman, for whom I am acting.”
A hoax specimen donated to the British Museum in 1942. (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
So the reports in this section clearly demonstrate that a belief in the existence of fish-human hybrids has been widespread. And yet, it is known that fakers have repeatedly assembled mermaids by attaching the upper portion of a human being (or non-human primate) to the caudal portion of a fish. Indeed, the last quoted report may refer to just such a hoax specimen “composed of the upper part of a monkey’s body and a fish tail, with various additions” donated to the British Museum in 1942 by the Princess Arthur of Connaught, Duchess of Fife (see image). More information about this fake is available on the British Museum website.
This year also near unto Orford in Suffolk, certain Fishers took in their Nets a Fish, having the shape of a man in all points, which Fish was kept by Bartholemow de Glandevile in the Castle of Orford six moneths and more; he spake not a word; all manner of meats he did gladly eat, but most greedily raw Fish, when he had pressed out the juice; oftentimes he was brought to the Church, but never shewed any sign of adoration; at length being not well looked to, he stole to the Sea and never was seen after.
The same book, however, states elsewhere (p. 75a) that the same event occurred during the reign of John I (1199-1216).
A specimen similar to Hart’s. This phenotype is sometimes described as a genetic disorder of the skin, harlequin ichthyosis, but the associated genetics are poorly known. Moreover, most published images of individuals affected by harlequin ichthyosis do not match this picture. Any explanation of this phenotype in terms of a dermatological disorder does nothing to explain the absence of both an external nose and external ears (traits of fish), nor the presence of a fish-like mouth. Is it possible, then, that such births represent fish-human hybrids? Note that the replacement of the eyes by red, fleshy lumps has been described for various kinds of distant hybrids.
Harlequin ichthyosis?
In his diary, the Rev. Oliver Hart described a fish-like child born in Charleston, South Carolina (note the coastal locale) in 1750:
On Thursday April ye 5th 1750 I went to see a most deplorable object of a child born the night before of one Mary Evans in Charles Town. It was surprising to all who beheld it, and I scarcely know how to describe it. The skin of its face was dry and hard and seemed to be cracked in many places, somewhat resembling the scales of a fish. The mouth was round and large and wide open. It had no external nose, but two holes where the nose should have been. The eyes appeared to be lumps of coagulated blood turned out about the bigness of a small plumb [sic], ghastly to behold. It had no external ears, but holes where the ears should be. The hands and feet appeared to be swollen, were crumpled up and felt quite hard. The back part of its head was much open [anencephaly or spina bifida?]. It made a strange kind of a noise, very low, which I cannot describe. It lived about eight and forty hours, and was alive when I saw it.
A case of exaggerated ichthyosis?
The report quoted below, although it alleges the individuals in question were tantamount to fish-human hybrids, may simply represent a case of sensationalizing ichthyosis by adding fanciful traits intended to exaggerate the similarity to fish. The material quoted here is from the front page (col. 6) of the November 20, 1879, issue of The Manitowoc Pilot, a newspaper published in Manitowoc, Wisconsin (source):
THE BOY-FISHES OF MORGAN COUNTY
Mt. Sterling (Ky.) Democrat: Two of the most marvelous specimens of the genus homo have been discovered in Morgan County, Ky. They are two boys named James and Henry Elam, aged respectively eight and twelve years. These boys talk rationally, are ordinarily intelligent, but are peculiar in having no hair on their bodies and heads. Their skin is covered with heavy scales like fish. At the elbow, knees and foot joints the skin is very thick, resembling the skin of an alligator. They never perspire, but turn light blue when they get heated. They take to water as naturally as fish, but, strange to say, can’t swim. They dive and crawl along the bottom with great activity and delight. They can not walk bare-footed, their feet cracking open, but have to wear shoes all the time. Their eyes are large and round, not almond shaped, and the lids are very red. They never wink, sleep with their eyes open. Their heads are covered with scales in lieu of hair. The boys handle snakes with impunity and delight, frequently quarreling over a single reptile, but satisfied when each has one, and snakes have no antipathy to them, but follow them like a dog does his master. The mother of these monstrosities has borne eight children. The eldest, a daughter of sixteen, is beautiful of form and features, and the other children are not at all peculiar. She cannot account for nature’s freak in these cases.They are expected to be in Mt. Sterling shortly, when our scientists will have an interesting problem to solve.
The following report alleges a case of xenogenesis (i.e., of one kind of animal producing offspring of a different kind). It appeared on page 8, column 3, of the January 31, 1894, issue of The Indiana State Sentinel, a newspaper published in Indianapolis, Indiana (source):
The Columbus [Indiana] Morning Times is responsible for the following story, which is certainly strange, if true: A few days ago a human freak was born to a family residing about six miles from this city [Columbus Indiana]. The attending physician describes it as being of the shape of a fish, and weighing nearly four pounds. Its head was of the shape of a fish’s, and its eyes were very small and set far back on its head, and its mouth was the shape of that of a sucker. Its body was completely covered with small, fine scales, and where the arms should have been were well developed fins. The lower part of its body was [of] a stubby nature, there being nothing whatever in the shape of lower limbs. The freak was alive when born and lived near two hours.
Oannes
Oannes, as represented in an ancient Mesopotamian cylinder seal impression.
Alexander Polyhistor, in his Chaldean Chronicle (quoted in Eusebius) describes the fish-human hybrid god Oannes and his role in the Mesopotamian account of creation: “Now it happened that in the first year, in the confines of Babylonia, there emerged from the Red Sea an awesome creature which was named Oannes. As Apollodorus relates in his book, this creature had the complete body of a fish. Yet, beside its fish head was a human head,
and by its tail were a pair of human legs, and it could speak human language. A picture of Oannes has been preserved to this day. He further states that this creature kept company with humans during the day, completely abstaining from any kind of food, instructing people in letters and the techniques of different arts, including the building of cities and temples, knowledge of laws, the nature of weights and measures, and how to collect seeds and fruits; indeed, he taught humankind everything necessary for domestic life on earth. From that time on, no one has gained any further knowledge. Now when the sun went down, Oannes would return to the sea, remaining there until morning in the vast expanse of the waters. Thus it lived the life of an amphibian. Subsequently, other similar creatures came forth, as the book of the kings makes clear. Furthermore it is said that Oannes wrote about deeds and virtues, giving humankind words and wisdom.
The tale of Oannes can be embroidered a bit with a notice published in an English newspaper, The Leeds Intelligencer and General Advertiser (Nov. 26, 1784, p. 3). A copy of this brief report, about a large quadruped fish that washed ashore in Norfolk during a storm, appears below:
Lower bodies of Oannes and a bull-man (Pasargadae, Iran, 6th cen. B.C.).
Fish with human faces
A carp with a human face photographed by UK resident Helen Barlow in 2017 while visiting Notcutts Ashton Park garden center in Greater Manchester. Details
An artist's rendering of a human-faced carp reported in Conrad Gesner's early encyclopedia of zoology Historia Animalium (Book IV, pp. 373-374). Gesner says it had the body of an ordinary carp (Cyprinus carpio) but the face of a human being, and that this fact was attested by "grave and erudite eyewitnesses," and that the creature was "shown everywhere as if it were a kind of miracle." It was netted, says Gesner, in Lake Constance, specifically in the Untersee (Gesner's "Acronio lacu"), on November 13, 1545. Possibly it was a carp like the one photographed in the UK in 2017 (see photos above), but which was drawn on the basis of a verbal report by Gesner's illustrator as shown here.
Woodblock print of a ningyo (人魚), literally “human fish,” a fish-human hybrid from Japanese folklore. According to legend, those who partook of the flesh of a ningyo would gain great longevity and live on for centuries.
Picture of a four-legged fish with a human face, supposedly found in Texas, as depicted in the St. Louis, Missouri, Post-Dispatch (Apr. 19, 1896, p. 33)
Triton (ancient Roman mosaic)
Tritons
And of Amphitrite and the loud-roaring Earth-Shaker was born great, wide-ruling Triton, and he owns the depths of the sea, living with his dear mother and the lord his father in their golden house, an awful god.
—Hesiod, Theogony
In Greco-Roman mythology Triton was the son of Poseidon, god of the sea. Triton, who had the body of a man and the tail of a fish, was Poseidon's herald. For this reason mermaid-like creatures, male or female, were also called tritons. The Greeks and Romans believed in the actual existence of tritons, creatures with the body of a man and the tail of a fish. Indeed, belief in such creatures persisted into early modern times, as evidenced by the picture and report below.
Figure of a man with the tail of a fish; said to be a life-drawing of a merman captured near Exeter. 1737 Etching. Collection of the British Museum, museum number 1873,0712.927.
A report about the fishy being pictured above appeared in the Gentleman’s Magazine (Nov. 1737, p. 703). It read,
Exeter. Some Fishermen near this City drawing their Net ashore, a Creature of human Shape, having two Legs, leap’d out, and run away very swiftly; not being able to overtake it, they knock’d it down by throwing sticks after it. At their coming up to it, it was dying, and groan’d like a human Creature: Its Feet were webb’d like a Duck’s, it had Eyes, Nose and Mouth, resembling those of a Man, only the Nose somewhat depress’d; a Tail not unlike a Salmon’s, turning up towards its Back, and is 4 Feet high. It was publickly shown here.
Das Meerwunder by Albrecht Dürer (c. 1498–1500, detail).
Ancient Roman mosaic,Merida, Spain (Flickr, David Jones, CC BY 2.0).
Cases of sirenomelia? Or are they perhaps fish-human hybrids? Above: Image of specimen at left is from Schatz (
Image: Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (
Image: Schwalbe (
Report about a fish-child (New York Evening World, Jun. 12, 1889, p. 2).
Red Snapper, Cyprinus acratus
Max Klinger, "Tritone e Nereide" (1895).
A human-fish. Detail from The Witches’ Sabbath (17th century) after David Teniers the Younger (1610-1690).
The range of the Buffalo Fish (Ictiobus bubalus) includes most of Arkansas.
Cartoon fish-human hybrids (J. J. Grandville, Les Métamorphoses du Jour).
A whiting (Merlangius merlangus)
The keep of Orford Castle (Image: Wikimedia, Keith Roper)
A specimen similar to Hart’s. This phenotype is sometimes described as a genetic disorder of the skin, harlequin ichthyosis, but the associated genetics are poorly known. Moreover, most published images of individuals affected by harlequin ichthyosis do not match this picture. Any explanation of this phenotype in terms of a dermatological disorder does nothing to explain the absence of both an external nose and external ears (traits of fish), nor the presence of a fish-like mouth. Is it possible, then, that such births represent fish-human hybrids? Note that the replacement of the eyes by red, fleshy lumps has been described for various kinds of distant hybrids.
Oannes, as represented in an ancient Mesopotamian cylinder seal impression.
Lower bodies of Oannes and a 
An artist's rendering of a human-faced carp reported in 
Woodblock print of a ningyo (人魚), literally “human fish,” a fish-human hybrid from Japanese folklore. According to legend, those who partook of the flesh of a ningyo would gain great longevity and live on for centuries.
Picture of a four-legged fish with a human face, supposedly found in Texas, as depicted in the St. Louis, Missouri, Post-Dispatch (
Triton (ancient Roman mosaic)
Figure of a man with the tail of a fish; said to be a life-drawing of a merman captured near Exeter. 1737 Etching.