B!TC# IT OUT!

[MarkF]

AniaR, it's that they have rays, everyone make such cool designs out of the rays. Flukes would actually be so boring.
Wesley's statement is most likely there.

[PearlieMae]

Caudal is so scientific sounding...when we say fin, it's mostly referring to monofins, and fluke became part of the popular vernacular when referring to a finished, covered monofin. Even though mermaids are depicted as half fish, it's obvious by our air breathing, breasted, hair growing upper half that we are more mammal than fish, not to mention our horizontal "fluke".

Or it's just the popular slang. I doubt I've ever said the word "caudal" out loud in my life.

[MarkF]

OK - Everyone together - Caudal -
K, it's our secret now, don't tell anyone.

[Merman Dan]

Just don't get folks started on the whole egg vs. live birth debate.

[MarkF]

ooh! whole egg vs. live birth?
Ya know that would be pretty defining wouldn't it.
Humm?

[Lostariel Telrunya]

That should be a new thread. Hang on.....

[MarkF]

Dan- I didn't do it, Lostariel did it.

[Echidna]

OK - Everyone together - Caudal -
K, it's our secret now, don't tell anyone.

Dude, you got that wrong.
It's not about the rays, it's about anatomy.

Aquatic mammals have horizontal flukes.
Fish have vertical caudal fins.

You can put all rays you want on a fluke, but as long as it's horizontal, it's still a fluke.

There is not a single mammal on this planet who has managed to swim with a caudal fin.
(believe me, people tried.)

[MarkF]

And now were are getting picky.
Bones- It's in the bones or would that be a fluke. "Pun intended"

Hang on, gotta find more chips. got the munchies.

[Anahita]

Caltuna nailed it on the head. It's how it moves and what it's attached to.

We have flukes just like we associate and socialize in pods.

If we want to have the debate over other depictions of mermaids that might make sense, but as for us, the people who swim in tails.... We're mammals, we swim with an up and down motion rather than a side to side motion... So it's a fluke, no matter how fishy it looks (and some mers flukes don't look fishy at all)

[PearlieMae]

Hmmmm... Is ' anal retentive' hyphenated?

Get over it. Say caudal in the lab.

Btw, my FLUKE is based on an insect wing. Stick that in your wave and swish it!

[MarkF]

Geez, need a little more freedom here.
Who says mammals can't have boned and skin fins.
Bone Rays as a support structure don't mandate a fish. "I'm not a believer in the half fish and half person."
Seals to Beavers are close enough for imagination to make the difference. Though the horizontal flippers still stand true.
The anatomy of a fluke doesn't have bones, more like your nose.

[MarkF]

Insect wing?

[AniaR]

fluke fluke fluke. flukity fluke fluke fluke

[AniaR]

I throw my fluke up in the air sometimes, saying hey=oh, fish or mammal bro? Im gonna swim my way and live my life, cuz the semantics... no one cares ohh!!
(lol Im sorry I couldnt resist)

Seriously though I always think it's so dumb to debate things that aren't real. There's no standard for mermaids. I get really irked when people get jerky saying "real mermaids have long hair, real mermaids dont wear tops, real mermaids dont have knees." newsflash. Mermaids arent real. We portray a fictional character that we can make whatever way we want, because we are establishing it. If you don't like someone's version, move along.

[Odette]

Don't get me started on fish anatomy. I love it! lol. I studied marine medicine for a bit and still do sometimes. I call it the caudal fin because mermaids are considered half human and half fish. We have scales and multiple fins. The way fins are formed compared to the flukes of our awesome sea mammals, it's still a fin, BUT everyone can call it whatever they want.. These mermaid fins look nothing like flukes to me. I had to learn both for blood collection and they don't look similar to me at all unless you don't have any visible rays.
Let's just classify it as both for mermaids sake, yes?

[Merman Dan]

Fluke, fluke, fluke, fluke of pearl, pearl, pearl...

[Anahita]

I throw my fluke up in the air sometimes, saying hey=oh, fish or mammal bro? Im gonna swim my way and live my life, cuz the semantics... no one cares ohh!!
(lol Im sorry I couldnt resist)

[MarkF]

Odette, do we have spots on our blood cells? Just kidding

[PearlieMae]

Fluke, fluke, fluke, fluke of pearl, pearl, pearl...

HAHAHA!

Yes, my fluke is based on cicada wings, even though they are a bit truncated.

I read my last post and it sounds mean, and I didn't mean it spitefully, I was laughing when I wrote it. Then again, Pearlie Mae don't give a fluke!

And I think Raina's cheese done slipped off her cracker.