How mermaid's have babies?

[seagirls626]

Whoops! the title should be 'How mermaid's MAKE babies."
Ok, so I've done some research, and I came up with a theory. I think that they do it like sharks and dolphins do. What do ya think? Seems legit to me.

[Aquatarian]

I think there are several different possibilities according to how "fishy" merpeople are in your head:

-Most Fishy, would entail a female laying eggs and the male following behind her fertilizing them. So no real contact between either parties.
-A little fishy, would be something similar to how some sharks and some fish mate. With umm... copulation between the two parties. Then after a short period, the mermaid lays the eggs.
-The least fishy, would be similar to whales/dolphins and some larger shark species (and humans of course). Where the mermaid and merman mate and then a full gestation period is necessary. Then the mermaid gives birth to live young.

For me at least, my idea of mers is fluid and changes, so the idea of mermaid sexuality changes along with it. For example a "Disney" mermaid like Ariel would get pregnant and have live kids but the merpeople in Harry Potter would probably lay eggs in some form. :P

[Nykur]

I had a book with the entire history and anatomy of the mermaid but nothing about how they reproduce!

[Mermaid Saphira]

I have a few ways of thinking about this but this one has not yet been mentioned...

Suppose mers can transfer from their mer form to a more human form, perhaps they just go above land to
um...mate.

OR

Merpeople have hidden reproductive organs that only appear during reproduction. They then give live birth to their offspring.

Do you think that mers stick with one mate for all of their life or they are more like deer, attempting to mate with as many as possible?

[Gem Stone]

I like the three 'fishy' options above and I always thought it depended on how fishy each merperson was. I figured it would depend on each individual instead of the species as a whole

[MerAnthony]

I always thought that mermaids transform into human form and mate. Then return to the sea and give live birth in the sea. This is mostly of what I have heard but there are a few other ways. Like they mate by fluid transfer then they lay eggs in a type of nest undrewater and wait till they hatch.

[ShyMer]

didn't we have a thread on this before? too lazy to look it up now, maybe later.

[Alveric]

I can imagine merpeople wondering how humans reproduce. "What about those legs? Don't they get in the way?"

[Mermaid Saphira]

didn't we have a thread on this before? too lazy to look it up now, maybe later.
I thought we did, I'm just not sure where...:thinks:

[Mermaid Saphira]

I can imagine merpeople wondering how humans reproduce. "What about those legs? Don't they get in the way?"

:rotfl:

[Elle]

I'm gonna go with "dolphin-style"
if you decide that mermaids are a marine mammal, made most likely based on the positioning of the fluke, the ability to breathe air, physical female anatomy i.e. breast for feeding young, load bearing pelvic bones.
The evidence would show that mermaids would copulate the same way that dolphins and whales do.

I think the real question is, how many babies could a mermaid have per cycle?

If she's only having one every 'X' amount of months (dolphin style) or is she have 100+babies per cycle? (totally fish)
answer this question and you'll work out how mermaids have babies

[Elle]

*OR*

What if it was like seahorses!?! delivery of eggs from the female to the male for incubation?
Just another idea for you to ponder.

[Mermaid Saphira]

I'm gonna go with "dolphin-style"
if you decide that mermaids are a marine mammal, made most likely based on the positioning of the fluke, the ability to breathe air, physical female anatomy i.e. breast for feeding young, load bearing pelvic bones.
The evidence would show that mermaids would copulate the same way that dolphins and whales do.

I think the real question is, how many babies could a mermaid have per cycle?

If she's only having one every 'X' amount of months (dolphin style) or is she have 100+babies per cycle? (totally fish)
answer this question and you'll work out how mermaids have babies

I definately think this is the most possible explanation.

[seagirls626]

Wow! There are some REALLY good answers here!

[AtlantisDreamer]

A lot of New Agers consider mermaids to be spiritual beings like fairies or angels... If that's the case, how would spirit being mermaids reproduce?

[Echidna]

Define "spiritual being".
Mythologies dealing with deities, fairies, and similar entities usually describe them as being corporeal, eating, drinking, and producing offspring the mundane way.

Later, the idea that these beings were real, but on a different plane and/or made from different matter, evolved.
Still, they were nothing described like ghosts or such.


spiritual beings like angels...
you know angels are NOT spirits, nor in any way spiritual beings if you are thinking of biblical angels right?
And they were nothing like fairies either.
They're described as dudes, although better-looking than the average man, but still dudes, wearing nice garments and having awesome weapons, flying around in aircraft, and having a supreme commander "in heaven" (likely yet another dude with even more awesome weapons, if the bible sources are correct).

The way people nowadays picture "angels"- shining, ethereal beings, able to fly with magic or wings instead of the good ol' aircraft the bible & co describe-, what they in fact mean is a fairy.
Pure and simple.

[AtlantisDreamer]

I meant the faery version of people's concept of angels... The New Age concept of angels. So, what you're saying is that as the idea goes that faeries are able to eat, drink, and have sex, that mermaids would then be realistically in that same category? I'm familiar with the fact that the Irish believe in all sorts of types of fae and believe that they have a sort of half physical body, but also supernatural powers to entice, disappear or become invisible either literally or through hiding. I've read all about stepping into the faery ring, too. So, I guess mermaids are actually part of a different class of beings then, right? Except for a few... I've got this massive resource out here in front of me and some of the fae are water creatures with fish tails but have different names than mermaid.

[AtlantisDreamer]

Ack... This is confusing... I'm going to start a new thread.

[Echidna]

I've got this massive resource out here in front of me and some of the fae are water creatures with fish tails but have different names than mermaid.

yea, there is this confusion around mermaids, which led me to the belief that two different concepts have been fused in our modern conception of mermaids;
1) water faeries of all sorts, and
2) human pearl divers, that went about their business naked even in freezing seas,
who were mistaken for fairy-like mermaids when outsiders spotted them.

There's an excellent article about divers secretly going about their business, I linked it somewhere in "Everything else" in the "True origin of mermaid legends" thread.
That said, other fairy myths could have a similar origin;
for example, the famous Romanian fairies maiestre/frumoase/iele, which are described as completely ethereal, often translucent or even invisible nature spirits may have been inspired by (human) dacian priestesses of an ancient deity, as scholars now hold.