Mermaid

Terutou

by

Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: Terukagoyo; Terikabugyo-san (local name of the sacred carp)
Category: Mermaid, Carp

The Myth

In the year 1646, a kind man named Otani Jinnai lived in Matsue with his wife Oryo. The couple longed for a child, and after many years of disappointment they prayed at temples and shrines throughout the land. At last they heard that Ogamiyama Shrine on Mount Oyama in Izumo was famed for granting children, and so they climbed the mountain to pray there.

As they descended, a thick fog suddenly swallowed the path. Out of the mist appeared a beautiful young woman who guided the lost couple safely down the trail. When she learned they had prayed for a child, she handed Jinnai a small bottle of water. She explained that it was sacred water made from dew gathered near Akamatsu Pond and offered at the shrine on New Year’s Day, and that drinking it would surely bring them the blessing they sought. Oryo drank it at once, feeling a strange certainty that their wish would be fulfilled. When they looked again, the girl had vanished.

The following year, Oryo gave birth to a daughter. The child was named O-Chiyo, and she grew into a girl of uncommon beauty and intelligence. When she reached sixteen, Jinnai’s nephew Tamaki asked for her hand in marriage. Though O-Chiyo felt troubled and uncertain, she could not bring herself to refuse her parents, and the engagement was arranged.

Before the wedding date was set, O-Chiyo made a request. She wished to visit Ogamiyama Shrine once more to report her coming marriage to the gods. Her parents agreed, and she set out for Mount Oyama with her nurse, Osuma. After offering her prayers at the shrine, the two began their return journey and passed by Akamatsu Pond—the very place where the mysterious girl had once given Jinnai the sacred water.

O-Chiyo stood gazing into the water for a long time. Then she walked to the edge and bent down. Suddenly steam rose from the pond, and her expression grew grave. She turned to Osuma, thanked her gently, and spoke in a calm voice. She said that although she had lived as a human, it had only been a temporary form. In truth she was a carp of that region, and the pond was her real home.

She gave Osuma a letter for her parents and words of gratitude, then leapt into the water and vanished. As Osuma cried out in shock, a huge golden carp surged to the surface. The creature turned toward her, and its face was unmistakably that of O-Chiyo. Overcome, Osuma fell to her knees in prayer as the carp slipped back beneath the water.

When Osuma returned and told Jinnai and Oryo what had happened, they were filled with grief. In the letter, O-Chiyo explained that she was the sacred carp Terukagoyo and could never marry a human. She thanked them for raising her and said that if they ever wished to see her, they need only call her name by the pond.

Jinnai remembered hearing of a sacred carp said to dwell in Akamatsu Pond, and he realized that the gods of Mount Oyama had given that spirit to him as a daughter. He built a small shrine and placed O-Chiyo’s letter there. Soon after, he and his family went to the pond and called her name three times from the shore. A thunderous roar answered from beneath the water, but she did not appear.

From that time on, visitors to the pond began calling the carp’s name in the same way. The shrine became a place where young men and women prayed for blessings in love, and in the region the carp themselves came to be respectfully called Terikabugyo-san.

Gallery

Sources

tyz-yokai.blog.jp contributors. (n.d.). Terutou. In tyz-yokai.blog.jp, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1077741621.html

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Umidebito

by

Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: Kaidzu-nin; sometimes simply called a mermaid or sea-being
Category: Mermaid

The Myth

In Echigo Province, near the lagoon of Fukushimagata, strange lights began appearing over the water at night. From within the glow came a woman’s voice calling across the shore, echoing over the waves and unsettling the nearby villages. People whispered that something not of this world had come up from the sea, and most were too frightened to go near it.

At last a ronin named Shibata Dan, who was training as a warrior, resolved to witness the being for himself. Carrying a torch, he went to the water’s edge and waited. Before long, a radiant figure rose from the sea and faced him. It spoke calmly, introducing itself as Umidebito, a dweller of the sea.

Its form was uncanny. From the head to the chest it resembled a human woman, but below that its body became scaled and unnatural, long and folding like some creature of the deep. The lower half of its body rested within a great conch shell, which floated upon the surface as if it were a small boat.

Umidebito then delivered its prophecy. It declared that the land would enjoy five years of rich harvests, but after that a terrible sickness would spread in the twelfth month, a plague so vast that it would kill most of the world’s people. It warned that the only way to avoid this fate was to paint its image, place the picture in one’s home, and pray to it each morning and evening.

When the message was finished, the being withdrew. The light faded, the sea closed over it, and Umidebito vanished into the darkness of the lagoon. Afterward, tales of the sea-woman spread, and images of her form were copied and kept by those who feared the coming disease.

Gallery

Sources

tyz-yokai.blog.jp contributors. (n.d.). Umidetto. In tyz-yokai.blog.jp, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1077286511.html

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Sato

by

Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: Hachimangū no kannushi no musume Sato
Category: Mermaid

The Myth

In Hizen Province there once lived a girl named Sato, the daughter of the chief priest of a Hachiman shrine. When she was seventeen years old, she drowned in a large pond, and her body was never recovered. The villagers mourned her, and with time the story faded into memory.

Years later, on the twenty-sixth day of the second month in 1819, something strange occurred. The waters of the pond stirred, and Sato’s body rose from the depths.

She was no longer human.

Her form had become long and fish-like, covered in scales, with flippered limbs, a human face framed by long hair, and two horns upon her head. From her abdomen hung three shining jewels.

When people gathered in fear and wonder, she spoke:

“I am a messenger from the gods. For eight or nine years there will be a rich harvest. But after that, a great illness will come, and thirty to fifty out of every hundred people will die. Those who see my image will be spared from this calamity.”

As she finished speaking, the sky darkened. Black clouds gathered, rain fell in torrents, and the waters of the pond surged upward.

Then Sato rose into the sky and vanished.

Afterward, her likeness was copied and spread among the people, who kept her image as a charm against disease, remembering the drowned girl who returned from the water as a messenger of the gods.

Gallery

Sources

yokai.com contributors. (n.d.). Sato. In yokai.com, from https://yokai.com/sato/

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Mondao

by

Tradition / Region: Zimbabwean Mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Mermaid

The Myth

In the rivers of Zimbabwe, there are said to dwell dangerous water maidens known as the Mondao.

They are described as pale-skinned beings with long dark hair and sharp, needle-like teeth. From a distance they may appear beautiful, but those who see them closely know they are not human. Their true form is half woman, half fish, and they move swiftly through the deep currents of rivers and pools.

Mondao hide beneath the surface where the water runs dark and deep. Fishermen casting their nets, swimmers crossing the river, or travelers resting near the banks may suddenly feel the water stir beneath them.

Without warning, the Mondao seize their victims and drag them below the surface. Few who are taken ever return.

Because of this, certain stretches of river are feared and treated with caution. People say that when someone vanishes in the water without a trace, it is the work of the Mondao, who guard their hidden domain beneath the currents.

They are remembered as spirits of the river’s depths—
beautiful from afar, deadly when near,
and always waiting beneath the water.

Gallery

Sources

Bestiary.us contributors. (n.d.). Mondao. In Bestiary.us, from https://www.bestiary.us/mondao/

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Mami Wata

by

Tradition / Region: Congolese Mythology
Alternate Names: Mammy Water, Mami Muntu, Mamba Muntu, Papi Wata (male counterpart in some traditions)
Category: Mermaid, Goddess

The Myth

In the rivers, lakes, and ocean shores of Africa, there is said to dwell a powerful spirit of the waters known as Mami Wata.

She appears most often as a woman of striking beauty, sometimes with the lower body of a fish, sometimes entirely human, sometimes adorned with serpents coiled about her body. Her hair is long, her gaze mesmerizing, and her presence both alluring and dangerous. She is a being of wealth, mystery, and deep water.

Mami Wata rises from rivers or from the sea to encounter humans. She may appear to travelers at night, to fishermen on the water, or to those who wander too close to sacred pools. Those she favors may be drawn into her world beneath the water, where she offers them riches, power, or secret knowledge.

Some who are taken by her return to the world of the living with sudden fortune, beauty, or spiritual gifts. Others never return at all.

She is known to demand devotion from those she chooses. Shrines are raised to her beside water, decorated with mirrors, combs, perfumes, bright cloth, and foreign objects she is said to love. Those who honor her properly may receive protection, healing, prosperity, or children.

But she is not always gentle. If neglected or angered, she may bring misfortune, illness, poverty, or madness. She may wreck boats, claim lovers, or pull the unwary beneath the water.

In some traditions she is accompanied by a male spirit, sometimes called Papi Wata, who shares her watery domain.

Thus Mami Wata is remembered as a spirit of beauty and danger, wealth and temptation—
a queen of the waters who gives blessings to the devoted,
and whose depths remain beyond human control.

Gallery

Sources

Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Mami Wata. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 14, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mami_Wata

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Melusina of the Bock Rock

by

Tradition / Region: Luxembourg Mythology
Alternate Names: Melusina, Melusine of Luxembourg, Water Nymph of the Alzette
Category: Mermaid, Shapeshifter, Nymph

The Myth

Long ago, Count Siegfried, a noble knight, became lost while hunting and came upon a deep valley where the Bock rock rises above the Alzette River. There he heard a wondrous song and saw a beautiful maiden seated upon the ruins of an ancient castle. She was Melusina, a water nymph of the valley. When she noticed him, she veiled her face and vanished with the setting sun.

The vision never left Siegfried’s mind, and he returned again and again to the valley. At last he met the maiden once more and confessed his love. Melusina agreed to marry him, on the condition that she would never be forced to leave the rock and that he must never seek her presence on Saturdays, when she wished to be alone. Siegfried swore to honor this oath.

To bring her home, he exchanged his lands for the barren Bock rock and, with supernatural help, built a great castle upon it. He married Melusina, and they lived happily together, and she bore him seven children. Yet each Saturday she withdrew to her chamber and locked herself away.

After many years, stirred by the suspicions of others, Siegfried resolved to learn her secret. One Saturday he crept to her door and looked through the keyhole. Inside he saw Melusina bathing in a wave-filled chamber, combing her long golden hair. But below her waist her body ended in a monstrous fishtail that lashed the water. With a cry of horror, he revealed himself. At once Melusina sank into the depths of the rock and was lost to him forever.

After her disappearance, a white figure was sometimes seen at night rocking her youngest child. It is said that Melusina still appears every seven years above the Bock rock in human form, begging to be freed. If no one rescues her, she cries out that not yet seven years have passed and sinks back into the stone.

Once, a soldier on night watch encountered her. She told him that to free her he must stand behind the altar in the Dominican church at midnight for nine consecutive nights. On the tenth night she would appear as a fiery serpent holding a key in her mouth, which he must take with his own mouth and throw into the Alzette River. Only then would she be redeemed and the ancient fortress rise again.

The soldier kept the vigil for eight nights but arrived late on the ninth. That night terrible roaring was heard around the Bock rock, and the chance of her redemption was lost.

Since then Melusina is said to circle the rock and cry out whenever danger threatens the city. Every seven years she is believed to make a single stitch on a mysterious garment she is weaving from flax that grows upon the bare rock. When the garment is finished, she will be freed — but it is said that the city itself will then fall into ruin.

And so Melusina remains bound beneath the Bock to this day, waiting for the one who will finally release her.

Gallery

Sources

sagen.at contributors. (n.d.). Melusina. In sagen.at, from https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/luxemburg/Melusina.html

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Lahama

by

Tradition / Region: Sumerian Mythology, Mesopotamian mythology
Alternate Names: Associated with Lahmu, Lahamu; linked with Oannes and Kululu
Category: Mermaid

The Myth

In the earliest age of the world, when only the deep fresh waters of the Abzu existed beneath the earth, the god Enki, lord of wisdom and the waters, created beings to dwell within his domain. These beings were called the Lahama, and they belonged to the sacred depths from which life and order would rise.

They were many—fifty in number—and they moved through the watery abyss as servants of Enki. They were shaped like beings of the deep, often imagined with forms that joined man and fish, creatures suited to the hidden waters below the world.

Later tales spoke of ancient ancestors of these beings. From the first primordial waters came the twins Lahmu and Lahamu, monstrous children of the earliest oceanic forces. From them came further generations of gods, and through them the world took form. Thus the spirits of the waters stood close to the beginning of creation itself.

Among the companions of Enki were powerful beings who sometimes rose from the sea to meet humankind. One of these was Kululu, a fish-formed servant of the god who moved between the divine world and the human one.

But the most famous of the sea-beings was Oannes.

In ancient days, near the shores of Babylonia, a strange creature rose from the Persian Gulf. His body was that of a fish, yet beneath the fish’s head was the face of a man, and beside the tail were human legs. Though his form was uncanny, his voice was gentle and human.

By day he walked among people. He taught them writing, numbers, and the arts. He showed them how to build cities and temples, how to establish laws, how to measure the land, and how to plant grain and gather food. Everything needed for civilized life he revealed to them.

He took no food while he stayed among humans. At sunset he returned to the sea and vanished beneath the waves, for he belonged both to water and to land.

Thus the beings of the deep waters—the Lahama and those who rose from them—were remembered as ancient spirits of the abyss, close to the birth of the world, and as teachers who once emerged from the sea to guide humankind.

Gallery

Sources

Bestiary.us contributors. (n.d.). Lahama. In Bestiary.us, from https://www.bestiary.us/lahama/

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Yok-yok

by

Tradition / Region: Aboriginal Mythology, Australian Mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Mermaid, Shapeshifter

The Myth

In sacred waterholes across the land dwell spirits known as yok-yok, beings of the deep water who belong to the old time of creation.

They are most often seen as young women with fish tails and long green hair that drifts like seaweed across the surface. When people see strands of weed floating on still water, they say it is the hair of a yok-yok rising from below.

These spirits are tied to the life of the land. Where they dwell, water is strong and fertile. If a woman passes near a waterhole where a yok-yok lives, she may conceive a child, for the spirit’s power brings life into the world. They are also bringers of rain, and when they are pleased, the clouds gather and the land is nourished.

But they are not always gentle. If angered or disrespected, yok-yok can stir the waters and call down storms that flood the land and destroy what grows there.

They are shapeshifters and do not always appear as mermaids. At times they take the form of crocodiles, snakes, or great fish. Some stories say they may grow legs and walk the earth at night, or take wings and pass through the sky like dragonflies.

Now and then a yok-yok falls in love with a human man and lives with him for a time. Yet such unions never last. In the end she returns to the water, drawn back to the place where she belongs.

Some say the yok-yok are daughters of Ngaliod, the great creator linked to the Rainbow Serpent. Others say they are not merely his children but another form of the same ancient power—spirits of the living water that has always flowed through the world.

Gallery

Sources

Bestiary.us contributors. (n.d.). Iok-Jok. In Bestiary.us, from https://www.bestiary.us/iok-jok/

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Iara

by

Tradition / Region: Brazilian Mythology
Alternate Names: Uiara, Yara, Hiara, Mãe das Águas (“Mother of the Waters”)
Category: Mermaid

The Myth

In the great rivers of the Amazon there lives a being called Iara, the Mother of the Waters. She appears as a beautiful maiden of the river, sometimes sitting upon rocks beneath the sun, combing her long hair and singing with a voice sweeter than any human song.

Men who hear her voice cannot resist it. Drawn by her song, they approach the water and follow her into the depths. Some are drowned at once. Others vanish into her underwater dwelling, where they remain with her until they grow old and die, while she herself never ages. Those who escape her spell return changed—haunted, restless, and forever drawn back toward the river.

One tale tells how a young warrior, son of a chief, heard Iara’s voice at a waterfall. Each night he returned to meet her, ignoring the pleas of his mother and the warnings of his people. At last the villagers saw him with the river maiden. Soon after, he disappeared forever into the waters, and no trace of him was ever found again.

Another story tells how Iara herself was once human. She had been a warrior of great skill, stronger and braver than her brothers. Jealous, they attacked her in the night, but she fought them off and they died by her hand. When her father discovered what had happened, he punished her by casting her into the river to drown. But the fish of the river or the moon-spirit took pity on her and transformed her into a river maiden. From that day on, she lured men to the water in vengeance for the injustice done to her.

Thus Iara is remembered as both enchantress and avenger, the beautiful woman of the river whose song still drifts across the Amazon at dusk, calling the unwary into the deep.

Gallery

Sources

Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Iara (mythology). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 14, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iara_(mythology)

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Keask

by

Tradition / Region: Scottish Highland folklore
Alternate Names: Maiden of the Waves
Category: Mermaid, Salmon

The Myth

In the waters off the Highlands lives the Keask, a sea maiden with the body of a beautiful woman and the tail of a great salmon. When she is beneath the sea her hair is dark green, but when she rises into the air it turns bright gold. She wears ornaments said to come from hidden chambers beneath the earth.

The Keask can sometimes be caught by mortals. If seized, she will grant three wishes in exchange for her freedom. Like other sea maidens, she can cast off her outer fish skin and take human form. In this shape she may wed a mortal man and live among his people. Yet if she ever recovers the skin that was taken from her, she returns to the sea. Even so, she does not forget her children, and is said to guide them in storms or lead them to good fishing.

One tale tells of a Keask who swallowed a man whole. His beloved lured the creature ashore by playing the harp, and the man escaped. The Keask then seized the harpist instead. To defeat her and free the captive, the hero had to destroy her hidden life. This life was not in her body but in a separable soul concealed far away: an egg inside a fish, the fish inside a duck, the duck inside a ram, buried beneath a house in a forest on an island in the middle of a lake. When the egg was destroyed, the Keask lost her power and the prisoner was freed.

Thus the Keask is remembered as both a bride from the sea and a dangerous being whose life and power lie hidden beyond her body.

Gallery

Sources

Bestiary.us contributors. (n.d.). Keask. In Bestiary.us, from https://www.bestiary.us/keask/

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