I'm with Alveric. I saw it more as a dolphin/whale thing.
I'm with Alveric. I saw it more as a dolphin/whale thing.
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"Immortality is simply ubiquity in time." - Herman Melville
"Be the flame, not the moth." - Giacomo Casanova
My notions about sex are much too romantic to accept that. I would say that it would be much the same for Merfolk as it is for dolphins. Also, I feel they would give live birth. It's easier to take care of young that can swim with you than lugging an egg around in the open sea. Especially for a species that usually has only one offspring at a time.Yeah, I'm definitely in this camp.I'm with Alveric. I saw it more as a dolphin/whale thing.
Originally Posted by Nyrunie
You mean they don’t exhale through their bellybuttons?
Ever seen the Pearl of Lao Tzu ?
I am curious about the mutation and merfolk, could there be a albino mermaid? What about deep sea mermaid, would they light up?
technically...mermaids started around 30,000 b.c. while there was obviously no WRITTEN stories...there were cave drawings of half fish half people discovered from the earliest times of "recorded" history....via rock walls
In my Stories and in my own personal beliefs mermaid mate and reproduce just like mammals, through lots of underwater sexy time lol
their pregnancies are about the same length as a human pregnancy at which point they lay an egg like thing with the fully developed mermaid inside who a day later east his way their way through the egg membrane.
also in my story and my personal view of them, my mermaids come in three genders.
Female
Male
and Hermaphrodite/ inter-sexual
the last of which look almost completely similar to their female counter parts save that they lack breast and have slightly more masculine features.
Little Sailor, Little fool, your better heed the golden rule
do unto other just as you, would like to to have them do to you
you think you can just walk away,but no, it doesn't work that way
see once your mine, your'll always be
I never give anything for free...
How would it be possible to have both a working set of lungs and gills? Because both need different kinds if hearts. Organisms with lungshave four valve hearts, while fish have two valves. this just information that I have come up worth through my own (very little/limited) research. So please correct me if I an wrong. I think newts have both lungs and gills though, but I was looking at a picture if a young newt, so it could just be that lungs had not yet devoloped.
But, mermaids could havegills and a specialy designed swim blAdder, like lungfish. Lungfish have two swim bkadders, which are lined with blood vessels that allow gas exchange. So they despite water and full both bkadders, that way they can "breathe" underwater.
Other fish have gills and folds of skin in the back of the mouth that are rich in blood vessels, si they can gulp air and breathe.
On reproduction: I like two think of it like dolphins/whales, but while just looking up some shark info, I read that some sharks have eggs that devolpe inside the body and then give bret to fully formed shark babies. I also really like the idea of amphibious mermaids. I like the idea of laying eggs that hatch to fully undeewater a organisms that as they age devolpe into amphibious orgasims.
Random fact!The male mountain dusky salamander bites the female to inject her with a chemical that s timulates her to accept for mating.
Last edited by Bellasea; 07-11-2012 at 01:38 AM.
Tenacity.
For the gills thing...maybe a mermaids organs are able to tell what substance they're breathing. When they're breathing air, the gills lay dormant and the heart uses 4 valves. But when they go underwater, the lungs go dormant, and the heart stops using two valves. I don't think it would be that complicated for the body to achieve. The issue might be do they need to keep their gills moist when out of water? I really like to think mermaids could have both gills and lungs, after all, they are both man and fish. They already defied gods law with that feat.
Going with what Ayla said, to keep the gills moist, the operculum (gill covering) could stay shut and the body secretes a mucus that would keep the gills moist under the operculum.
Last edited by Bellasea; 07-11-2012 at 10:39 AM. Reason: i wrote folks instead of gills...idk why
Tenacity.
I have a question about a mer's skin. Human skin can't stay in saltwater for long periods of time without the salt eating away at the skin, creating ulcers. so how would a mer go about avoiding that from happening?
Also, some salamanders have both lungs and gills, but they have a three valve heart.
Ohh, second question: If mers were to have gills, how large would they be? And how would they be devopled? Because depending on where the mer lives the gills would have to be different. For example, fish that live in fast moving, cold, oxygen-rich rivers and streams need smaller gills, because the water is so rich in oxygen the gills don't need to be as large to asborb enough oxygen for the fish. The opposite is true for fish that live in warm, stagnant, oxygen-poor water. The gills are larger so that there is more surface area for gas exchange.
Tenacity.
My response to this would be that a mermaids skin could be similar to a dolphin or whale skin. As for the rest of your questions, I'm not sure, but that's an interesting thing to wonder about.
Is a two-chambered heart necessary for gills to work? Or is that simply what fish have because they're fish?
Alveric
For my novel, The Accidental Mermaid, go to http://mermaidsofxanadu.com/
Coming in 2014: Spindrift
I don't know what I'd think about the issues of breathing...but...
Reproduction: I've always thought of that as something very similar to humans' reproduction. They'd be mammals. The female reproductive organs would face the front - a well-hidden slit hidden by her tail's coloring. The male's would be internal and front facing as well, and much like a dolphin's, but tucked in closer to the surface of the skin (thus, the infamous mer-bump). They'd have to face each other while being intimate.
As for their skin they'd probably have to have skin similar to a 'fleshy' fish's or a marine mammal like spottedcatfish suggested, until the tail starts.
Well, We've certainly heard stories about them being able to see the future, fortell storms... I've heard of them granting wishes as well. Shapeshifting is a rather common idea of mermaids shedding their tail to walk on land (or like the Undine and their seal skins)... Some stories have them with magical artifacts that once a human captures this item, the mer is trapped to be their spouse... unless they find it and return to the sea.
as for other superpowers... I like my merfolk to be psychic, and have more telekinetic powers, but I still like them to be based in animal nature. Many animals can sense disasters, earthquakes, storms, etc. before they happen... I feel like if they were to have a SUPER power, I would like them to be able to control water elements (not unlike the girls of H2O). But I personally don't need them to have that power. I like them to be more animal.
I would like to mention something about mer-sex, since the topic was asked about their reproduction. Whereas, I have no personal stake in how they reproduce, if people like the idea of merfolk being mammalian based, it is interesting to look at sea mammals... a lot of them tend to be VERY sexual! I used to work with Manatees, and I was floored to learn that they will commit acts of group sex, oral sex, homosexual sex, etc. Rather kinky li'l seacows! And I've heard that some dolphins and whales are similar!
How about the blushing dolphins when they are excited they flush a bright pink?!
My weird theory is that.. Well, when a mermaid dies, it turns into a human, and thats why you hardly ever see merfolk bodies lying in the ocean edge and stuff... This is just weird and awkward and I have no reason to say it, really, but thats just what I think
Mermaid Brooke, an artist I found last year offers one way merfolk can breath underwater. Interesting, huh? I love his paintings!
" The Golden Rose " 36" x 48" oil on panel, © 2007 Donato Giancola
" Mermaid- The Sun Gazer " 30" x 24" oil on panel, © 2011 Donato Giancola
Hmmm... Prince Calypso, instead of having three genders, what if all merfolk could change genders (like the frogs/dinosaurs in jurassic park, several species of fish, etc) as needed, perhaps like succubi/incubi are supposed to be able to do?
As for breathing, I was wondering if merfolk might be like mudskippers... able survive on land for awhile despite having gills.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudskipper
Of course, such an adaptations would suggest that merfolk are relatively rare/endangered (for the former) and better suited for the shallows and tidal/beach areas, rather than the deeper waters and open oceans (that does lend itself to ideas about the reasons mermaids are depicted as sunning themselves on rocks and mermen are known to haunt particular straits (such as the Minch) that are bound by land on either side).
I largely agree with merboy78xy, about the superpowers. The average merman or mermaid shouldn't be tremendously powerful (exceptions such as nobles, sea witches, demigods, etc are present, but that's true for humans as well) unlike dragons, unicorns, phoenixes, djinn, or wish-granting/cursing fairies, but should be at about the same level of power as, say, a werewolf or elf or lesser vampire.
Delphine, while I love the paintings, I'm a bit confused... what method of breathing are you talking about? Just the fact that they have gill slits on their torsos?
In chapter 13 of my my WIP Novel, The Girl With the Sea-Green Eyes, Annie, a water-breathing mermaid, finds a unique solution to breathing on land.
http://alveric2.deviantart.com/art/T...r-13-351307369
Alveric
For my novel, The Accidental Mermaid, go to http://mermaidsofxanadu.com/
Coming in 2014: Spindrift
Joy, I'm glad you like the paintings, as well. Donato Giancola is quite the skilled artist. What I got from them was that they perhaps have lungs AND gills. These gills "close up", like Sungazer above, so that the lungs activate on land. An interesting idea, though I have no clue how that may or may not work scientifically.
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