An Interesting Article...

An exerpt from "The Aquatic Journal of Eurasia."
Vol. 5 May 2005 Pages 24-33.

The mer-people of the sea reproduce in much the same fashion as the salmon or other marine species of fish. It is a well-documented scientific process. The female deposits the eggs in a sheltered area of an inland stream or bayou, and the male in close proximity deposits his part of the equation. While the initial courtship rituals of the mer-people is largely undocumented and has heretofore gone unobserved by scientists, we can speculate that the ritual is similar to that of the Alpine chamois of Central Europe. From ancient texts, we learn that males vye for prime breeding females through contests involving brute strength, not by butting heads like the chamois per se, but by fighting with their powerful, fish-like tails. It is recorded in Old Norse literature and the little extant Etruscan literature available of sea captains and crews observing this courting phenomenon in the Adriatic and Baltic seas. Although some would argue that much of this ancient literature is a blend of imaginative fancy and fact, these are the best descriptions we have of mer-people mating rituals.

There is a new study being financed by the Tyrolian Scientific Commission to study the mating ritual around the Po River delta in Italy, as many mer-people sightings have been reported by shrimp and clam fisherman especially around Venice as well as in Trieste at times in the early spring when the effluvience of melting snow in the rivers has swollen the low-lying, marshy areas in the brackish waters. What the results of these studies will be we cannot say as of yet, but the prospect of gaining insight into this obscure people is high with new technologies that allow cameras to employ "night-vision" technology in the murky waters where mer-people are commonly reported to have been seen.

At the same time in Denmark, while one can readily observe the mermaid statue in Copenhagen harbor, one must wonder why such a thing would have been constructed. For the mermaid/merman to have been such an integral part of the culture and lore of ancient land-bound peoples, some basis of truth must have existed to place these creatures in terran man's legends. And regretfully, it is not believed that the mer-people have developed a written language with any existing works. And, moreover, if we were able to begin a dialog with the sea-peoples, the hurdles in communication would be exceedingly difficult since the language as reported by fisherman and others in history has always been likened to a dolphin-like sound, probably based on the principles of echo-location. Hopefully, in the future, increased scientific awareness and willingness of land-man to acknowledge his sea-cousins as equals and not only less evolved, water-bound hominids will give us the knowledge and information to work together with this noble race. Some will say that the mer-races are the caretakers of the seas, and if it were not for them, there would have long ago been a diminishment in the fish stocks that are so important to land-man's survival. It would seem that at this moment that the mer-people and terran man's survival is dependent - one upon the other.

Also, one need only observe his very own hand and see the slight amount of webbing left between his fingers to realize that man on land may have had as a remote forebears the sea-peoples. Genetic sampling is not yet possible due to the reticent nature of the sea-people, but it is hoped that as a part of the mating study, that DNA can be obtained for comparison through gel-electrophoresis to determine the amount of kinship among land and sea man.

(P.S. - I made all this up.)