Merfolk or merpeople are legendary water-dwelling human-like beings. They are attested in

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

and

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...

throughout the ages in various parts of the world. Female merfolk may be referred to as

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes asso ...

s, although in a strict sense mermaids are confined to beings who are half-woman and half-fish in appearance. Male merfolk are called mermen. Depending on the story, they can be described as ugly or beautiful. Chinese ''renyu'' () stands for "merfolk", but in ancient geographical or natural historical tracts, this referred to "human-fish" or "man-fish" purported to inhabit rivers or lakes in certain parts of China. Japanese ''

ningyo as the name suggests, is a creature with both human and fish-like features, described in various pieces of Japanese literature. Though often translated as "mermaid", the term is technically not gender-specific and may include the " mermen". The ...

'' () is also "merfolk", and also applied to various human-like fish recorded in writings from medieval times into the Edo Period.

China

Certain fantastical types of "fish", generically referred to as ''renyu'' (, "human-fish") is alleged to occur in various parts of China according to the ''Shan Hai Jing'' (''

Classic of Mountains and Seas The ''Classic of Mountains and Seas'', also known as ''Shan Hai Jing'', formerly romanized as the ''Shan-hai Ching'', is a Chinese classic text and a compilation of mythic geography and beasts. Early versions of the text may have existed sinc ...

'', 4th century BC). It is mentioned in the ''Bei Shan Jing'' ("Classic of the Northern mountains"), ''Zhong Shan Jing'' (Central Mountains), and ''Xi Shan Jing'' (Western Mountains) sections of this work. This work and others also mention several additional types of "anthropomorphic fish" with limbs in other regions such as the (; "red ru fish") and (; "hill-fish"), considered to be in the same category of creatures. Certain tribes or races of humans were also described being part-fish, namely the . It is recorded that the

Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor The Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor () is the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the Qin dynasty. It is located in Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi province of China. It was constructed over 38 years, from 246 to 208 BCE, and is ...

was illuminated with lamps fueled by the oil of the human-fish (''renyu''), whose flames were meant to last a very long time.

''Renyu'' or human-fish

;(aka ''haieryu''. subtypes ''tiyu'' and ''niyu'' ) The ''renyu'' (; human-fish) is described in the ''Bei Shan Jing'' ("Classic of the North Mountains") section as dwelling on Mt. Longhou (, "Dragon-Marquis Mountain") in the waters of the Jueshui (, "Bursting River"), which flows eastward into the

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Standard Beijing Mandarin, Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system in the world at th ...

. It is said to "resemble the ''tiyu''" (translated as "resemble catfish") possess four legs, with a voice like baby crying. Eating the fish purportedly cured idiocy or dementia. This fish as a cure was also quoted in the ''Compendium of Materia Medica'' or ''

Bencao Gangmu The ''Bencao gangmu'', known in English as the ''Compendium of Materia Medica'' or ''Great Pharmacopoeia'', is an encyclopedic gathering of medicine, natural history, and Chinese herbology compiled and edited by Li Shizhen and published in the ...

'' (1596) under its entry for ''Tiyu'' ( zh, 䱱魚) The ''

'' categorized the ''tiyu'' () as one of two types of "human-fish" (''renyu''). The human-fish were also known as "child-fish" or ''haieryu'' (; ). The other type, called the ''niyu'' () is elaborated in a separate section. It has been noted by

Li Shizhen Li Shizhen (July 3, 1518 – 1593), courtesy name Dongbi, was a Chinese acupuncturist, herbalist, naturalist, pharmacologist, physician, and writer of the Ming dynasty. He is the author of a 27-year work, found in the ''Compendium of M ...

that the character for the ''Niyu'' (''Ni'' fish) consists of the "fish" indexing component () and "child" () radical. Translators of the ''Bencao Gangmu'' attempt to match entries with actual

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

of animals, forbs, etc., where possible, and the ''tiyu'' type is glossed as "newts" while the ''niyu'' type is "

Chinese giant salamander The Chinese giant salamander (''Andrias davidianus'') is one of the largest salamanders and one of the largest amphibians in the world.

''Chiru'' or red ru fish

The (; "red ru fish". Wade-Giles: ''ch'ih-ju''; "red ju") is described in the ''Nan Shan Jing'' ("Classic of the Southern Mountains") as a human-headed fish. It is said to be found in the Qingqushan ( "Green-Hills Mountains") in the Pool-of-Yi (Yì zhī zé ; "Carp-Wings Lake"). It is described as basically fish-form but having a human face, and issuing sounds like the

mandarin duck The mandarin duck (''Aix galericulata'') is a perching duck species native to the East Palearctic. It is medium-sized, at long with a wingspan. It is closely related to the North American wood duck, the only other member of the genus ''Aix''. ...

. Eating it purportedly prevented

scabies Scabies (; also sometimes known as the seven-year itch) is a contagious skin infestation by the mite ''Sarcoptes scabiei''. The most common symptoms are severe itchiness and a pimple-like rash. Occasionally, tiny burrows may appear on the skin ...

or itchy skin. The illustration of the ''chiru'' from China may have influenced the legless, human-faced fish visualization of some of the ''ningyo'' in Japan, according to the hypothesis of .

Jiaoren

The '' jiaoren'' ( " flood dragon people" or "shark people") that appear in

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

writings are considered to be references to

merfolk Merfolk or merpeople are legendary water-dwelling human-like beings. They are attested in folklore and mythology throughout the ages in various parts of the world. Female merfolk may be referred to as mermaids, although in a strict sense mermaid ...

. This mythical southern mermaid or

merman Mermen, the male counterparts of the mythical female mermaids, are legendary creatures, which are male human from the waist up and fish-like from the waist down, but may assume normal human shape. Sometimes they are described as hideous and other ...

is recorded in 's "Records of Strange Things" (early 6th century CE).

In the midst of the South Sea are the houses of the ''kău'' () people who dwell in the water like fish, but have not given up weaving at the loom. Their eyes have the power to weep, but what they bring forth is pearls.

Similar passages appear in other texts such as the ''

Bowuzhi ''Bowuzhi'' (博物志; "Records of Diverse Matters") by Zhang Hua (c. 290 CE) was a compendium of Chinese stories about natural wonders and marvelous phenomena. It quotes from many early Chinese classics, and diversely includes subject matter fr ...

'' (, "Treatise of Manifold " ) as "weep ngtears that became pearls". These aquatic people supposedly spun a type of raw silk called ''jiaoxiao'' "mermaid silk" or ''jiaonujuan'' "mermaid woman's silk". Schafer equates this with

sea silk Sea silk is an extremely fine, rare, and valuable fabric that is made from the long silky filaments or byssus secreted by a gland in the foot of pen shells (in particular ''Pinna nobilis''). The byssus is used by the clam to attach itself to t ...

, the rare fabric woven from

byssus A byssus () is a bundle of filaments secreted by many species of bivalve mollusc that function to attach the mollusc to a solid surface. Species from several families of clams have a byssus, including pen shells (Pinnidae), true mussels (Mytilid ...

filaments produced by Pinna "pen shell" mollusks.

Japan

The ''ningyo'' ( "human-fish") of Japan has its own history in the country's literary record. The earliest references (in the '' Nihon shoki'', entry for year 619, reign of

Empress Suiko (554 – 15 April 628) was the 33rd monarch of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 推古天皇 (33)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Suiko reigned from 593 until her death in 628. In the history of Japan ...

) do not specifically use the term ''ningyo'', and the "thing" appeared in fresh water (a river in Ōmi Province, canal

Settsu Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises the southeastern part of Hyōgo Prefecture and the northern part of Osaka Prefecture. It was also referred to as or . Osaka and Osaka Castle were the main center of the province. Most of Settsu's ...

), and may presumed to be a giant salamander. Later accounts claim that Empress Suiko's regent

Prince Shōtoku , also known as or , was a semi-legendary regent and a politician of the Asuka period in Japan who served under Empress Suiko. He was the son of Emperor Yōmei and his consort, Princess Anahobe no Hashihito, who was also Yōmei's younger half-s ...

knew the creature to be a ''ningyo'' when one was presented to him by representatives of Ōmi. The appearance of the human-fish was strongly associated with ill omen in later treatments of the Prince's encounter with the human-fish. During the Kamakura Period, ''ningyo'' of the marine sort were frequently reported as washing ashore, and these were taken to be ominous signs usually prefiguring bloody battles. The ''ningyo'', or rather ''renyu'' and the like found in Chinese sources (''chiru'', ''tiyu'' etc., etc., discussed above) were also discussed in Japanese literature, for example, works of scholars of herbal and traditional medicine, such as

Kaibara Ekiken __NOTOC__ or Ekiken, also known as Atsunobu (篤信), was a Japanese Neo-Confucianist philosopher and botanist. Kaibara was born into a family of advisors to the ''daimyō'' of Fukuoka Domain in Chikuzen Province (modern-day Fukuoka Prefectur ...

(d. 1714) and

Ono Ranzan , also known as , was a Japanese botany, botanist and herbalism, herbalist, known as the "Japanese Carl Linnaeus, Linnaeus". Ono's real surname was ; his adult given name was . became his art name and his Chinese style courtesy name. He was b ...

(d. 1810), who also aware of European discussions on "sirens", "anthropomorphic fish", "''peixe muller'' (fish-woman)", etc.

In popular culture

Merfolk Merfolk or merpeople are legendary water-dwelling human-like beings. They are attested in folklore and mythology throughout the ages in various parts of the world. Female merfolk may be referred to as mermaids, although in a strict sense mermaid ...

are a fictional race of humanoids that live underwater in ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

''. * Merfolk are humanoid aquatic creatures with fish-like characteristics in ''

Magic: The Gathering ''Magic: The Gathering'' (colloquially known as ''Magic'' or ''MTG'') is a Tabletop game, tabletop and Digital collectible card game, digital Collectible card game, collectable card game created by Richard Garfield. Released in 1993 by Wizards ...

''. * Merfolk are humanoid aquatic creatures with fish-like characteristics in ''

Spectromancer Spectromancer (russian: Спектромансер) is a computer game developed by Apus Software and Three Donkeys LLC. The game was released in October 2008. The expansion League of Heroes, Truth & Beauty, and Gathering of Power are upgrade to ...

''. * In ''

One Piece ''One Piece'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' since July 1997, with its individual chapte ...

'', the Merfolk are among the different races in the anime and one of the two types that dwell underwater (the other being the Fishmen). Each of the Merfolk has their "fish" parts based on different fishes and related creatures like

coelacanth The coelacanths ( ) are fish belonging to the order Actinistia that includes two extant species in the genus ''Latimeria'': the West Indian Ocean coelacanth (''Latimeria chalumnae''), primarily found near the Comoro Islands off the east coast ...

s, icefish,

kissing gourami Kissing gouramis, also known as kissing fish or kissers (''Helostoma temminckii''), are medium-sized tropical freshwater fish comprising the monotypic labyrinth fish family (biology), family Helostomatidae (from the Greek language, Greek ''elos'' ...

Japanese rice fish The Japanese rice fish (''Oryzias latipes''), also known as the medaka, is a member of genus ''Oryzias'' ( ricefish), the only genus in the subfamily Oryziinae. This small (up to about ) native of East Asia is a denizen of rice paddies, marshes, ...

, striped beakfish, righteye flounders,

olive flounder The olive flounder (''Paralichthys olivaceus''), bastard halibut or Japanese halibut, is a temperate marine species of large-tooth flounder native to the North-western Pacific Ocean. It is often referred to as the Japanese flatfish or Korean fla ...

s, blue-striped angelfish, smelt-whitings,

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimo ...

oarfish Oarfish are huge, greatly elongated, pelagic lampriform fish belonging to the small family Regalecidae. Found in areas spanning from temperate ocean zones to tropical ones, yet rarely seen, the oarfish family contains three species in two gene ...

opah Opahs, also commonly known as moonfish, sunfish (not to be confused with Molidae), kingfish, redfin ocean pan are large, colorful, deep-bodied pelagic lampriform fishes comprising the small family Lampridae (also spelled Lamprididae). The famil ...

blue-ringed octopus Blue-ringed octopuses, comprising the genus ''Hapalochlaena'', are four highly venomous species of octopus that are found in tide pools and coral reefs in the Pacific and Indian oceans, from Japan to Australia. They can be identified by their ye ...

es,

shortfin mako shark The shortfin mako shark (; ; ''Isurus oxyrinchus''), also known as the blue pointer or bonito shark, is a large mackerel shark. It is commonly referred to as the mako shark, as is the longfin mako shark (''Isurus paucus''). The shortfin mako can ...

seahorse A seahorse (also written ''sea-horse'' and ''sea horse'') is any of 46 species of small marine fish in the genus ''Hippocampus''. "Hippocampus" comes from the Ancient Greek (), itself from () meaning "horse" and () meaning "sea monster" or " ...

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, ...

, Bering wolffish,

goldfish The goldfish (''Carassius auratus'') is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of order Cypriniformes. It is commonly kept as a pet in indoor aquariums, and is one of the most popular aquarium fish. Goldfish released into the wild have ...

, and brotulas.

Explanatory notes

References

Citations Bibliography * * * * * * ** ** ** ** * * * * * {{Fantasy fiction Mythological human hybrids Mythological aquatic creatures