Aquatic humanoids appear in legend and fiction.[1] "Water-dwelling people with fully human, fish-tailed or other compound physiques feature in the mythologies and folklore of maritime, lacustrine and riverine societies across the planet."[2]
Myth
edit"Ancient sea deities" have been regarded as the "earliest version of a human-fish hybrid".[3] Creatures with a human torso and the tail of a fish appear in the myths of cultures around the world and persist in contemporary popular culture.[2][3][4]
Legend
edit- The Amabie from Japanese folklore
- The ceasg in Scottish folklore
- Finfolk from the folklore of Orkney
- Kappa from Japanese folklore
- The Loveland frog
- Melusine in European folklore
- Merrows from Irish folklore
- The Neck from Scandinavian folklore
- The Ningyo from Japanese folklore
- Selkies, from Irish folklore
- The Umibōzu from Japanese folklore
- Undines in the writings of Paracelsus
- Sirens, while initially described as birdlike, but have become associated with mermaids in later folklore.
First Body Upgrade
edit- Fiji mermaids, taxidermic body to swim and dive better underneath the waters.
Fiction
editLiterature
edit- Grendel and Grendel's mother from Beowulf
- Caliban from William Shakespeare's play The Tempest.
- The Little Mermaid, from Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales (1837)
- The underwater people from H. G. Wells's story "In the Abyss" (1896)[5]
- The harbor master from Robert W. Chambers's story "The Harbor-Master" (1899)[6]
- Mr. Toad from The Wind in the Willows (1908)
- The fish man from Irvin S. Cobb's story "Fishhead" (1913)[6]
- The Frogman from L. Frank Baum's The Lost Princess of Oz (1917)
- Ichthyander from Alexander Belyayev's Amphibian Man (1928)[7]
- The Deep Ones from H. P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth (1936)[6]
- The Newts from Karel Čapek's War with the Newts (1936)[8]
- The Myposans from Edgar Rice Burroughs's "Slaves of the Fish Men" (1941)
- Marsh-wiggles from C. S. Lewis's The Silver Chair (1953)
- Swimmers from C. M. Kosemen's All Tomorrows (2006)
Comics
edit- The Fish Men from Buck Rogers comic strips
- The Shark Men from Flash Gordon comic strips
- Namor the Sub-Mariner, from the Marvel Universe
- Aquaman from DC Comics
- The Water People from Carl Barks's story "The Secret of Atlantis"
- Frog-Man and the Ani-Men version of Frog-Man from Marvel Comics
- Abe Sapien and the "frog monsters" from the Hellboy comics
- Pepe the Frog, a comic character and Internet meme
- The Trench in DC Comics.
Films
edit- The frog people from The Mysterious Island (1929)[9]
- The Gill-man from Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)[10]
- The Gill-man from The She-Creature (1956)[11]
- The Gill-man from The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1958)[11]
- The Gill-men from City Under the Sea (1965)[12]
- The titular creatures from Humanoids from the Deep (1980)
- The mutant from Leviathan (1989)
- The aquatic aliens from The Abyss (1989)
- The Killer from Split Second (1992)
- Chocki, the shark-man from Cabin Boy (1994)
- The "Mariner" from Waterworld (1995)
- The Gungans from Star Wars (1999)
- The Amphibian Man from The Shape of Water (2017)
Games
edit- The Argonians from Elder Scrolls
- Aulbath (a.k.a. Rikuo) from the video game series, Darkstalkers, by Capcom
- The Battletoads from the video game series of the same name
- Bullywug from the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game setting
- The Melusines from the nation of Fontaine in Genshin Impact
- The Murloc are a species of amphibious creatures which live in tribes in World of Warcraft[13]
- The Naga are a species of aquatic humanoids under the command and leadership of Queen Azshara in World of Warcraft
- Neptuna, the mermaid-like boss in Croc: Legend of the Gobbos
- The Rokea from the roleplaying game Werewolf: the Apocalypse
- The sahuagin from the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game setting
- The Salarians, a race in the Mass Effect series
- The tritons from the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game setting
- Zoras from The Legend of Zelda
Television
edit- The characters of Amphibia, a world of anthropomorphic frogs and other amphibians.
- The Aquaphibians from the Stingray TV series
- Bullfrog from the adult animated show Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix
- The race of Cabira (one of Chilled's henchmen) is a race of fish-like humanoids from Dragon Ball
- Crazy Frog
- The Fish People from the radio broadcast Alexei Sayle and the Fish People
- The Fishmen are a race of fish-like humans from the anime One Piece. They are modeled after different aquatic lifeforms. The Fishmen can breed with Giants to create Wotans.
- Gill (aka Gil Moss) from "Kim Possible"
- Goo from Gumby
- Hippocampus from Krapopolis is a piscine humanoid. The episode "Prince Hippo" revealed that he is part of a race of Atlantean fish-men with his mother being the unnamed Queen of Atlantis.
- The Hynerians from Farscape
- Kermit the Frog and Robin the Frog from The Muppets
- Some characters in Nagi-Asu: A Lull in the Sea are humans having the ability to breathe underwater (called Ena)
- The Kanassans are a race of fish-like humanoids from the planet Manassas. They are said to possess psychic abilities, including being able to read minds and see into the future. They featured in the special Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku
- Mer-Man from the Masters of the Universe franchise
- Molly, Gil, Goby, Deema, Oona and Nonny from Bubble Guppies
- Michigan J. Frog, star of the Looney Tunes short One Froggy Evening and onetime mascot of The WB
- Rayza from A.T.O.M.
- Queen Oona from Disenchantment belongs to a race of amphibious humanoids called Salamanders.
- Sil and the Sea Devils from Doctor Who
- In the Dragon Ball Z series, the alien race of Sūi' (one of Frieza's foot soldiers) is a race of humanoid fish-like aliens who worked in the Galactic Frieza Army
- The TigerSharks from The Comic Strip segment of the same name
See also
editCitations
edit- ^ Bane, Theresa (2016-05-04). Encyclopedia of giants and humanoids in myth, legend and folklore. McFarland. ISBN 9781476663517. OCLC 918874339.
- ^ a b Hayward, Philip (2017). Making a Splash: Mermaids (and Mermen) in 20th and 21st Century Audiovisual Media. John Libbey Publishing. p. 6. ISBN 9780861969258.
- ^ a b Strozier, Scott (2022). Probable, Possible, Plausible - Explanatory Guide to Monsters and Myth. Dorrance Publishing. p. 161. ISBN 9781636613468.
- ^ Maxwell, Melissa (2024). "Introduction". The Little Encyclopedia of Mermaids. Running Press. ISBN 9780762488377.
- ^ Debus 2016, p. 231-232.
- ^ a b c Joshi 1999, p. 163.
- ^ Bleiler 1990, pp. 46–47.
- ^ Debus 2016, p. 235.
- ^ Debus 2016, p. 230.
- ^ Debus 2016, pp. 230–231.
- ^ a b Debus 2016, p. 237.
- ^ Mitchell, Charles P. (2001). The complete H.P. Lovecraft filmography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. p. 19. ISBN 9780313316418.
- ^ Bainbridge, William Sims (2012). The Warcraft Civilization: Social Science in a Virtual World. MIT Press. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-262-28837-8.
General references
edit- Bleiler, E. F. (1990). Science-fiction, the early years : a full description of more than 3,000 science-fiction stories from earliest times to the appearance of the genre magazines in 1930 : with author, title, and motif indexes. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press. ISBN 9780873384162.
- Bleiler, E. F. (1998). Science-fiction : the Gernsback years : a complete coverage of the genre magazines ... from 1926 through 1936. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press. ISBN 9780873386043.
- Debus, Allen A. (2016). Dinosaurs ever evolving : the changing face of prehistoric animals in popular culture. Jefferson, North Carolina. ISBN 978-0786499519.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Joshi, S. T. (1999). A subtler magick : the writings and philosophy of H.P. Lovecraft. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Wildside Press. ISBN 9781880448618.