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Mermaids, like many other creatures ofmythology andfolklore, are regularly depicted inliterature, film, music, andpopular culture. In the folklore of some modern cultures, the concept of thesiren has been assimilated to that of the mermaid. For example, the French word for mermaid issirène, Italiansirena, and similarly in certain other European languages. This usage existed by theMiddle Ages.[1]
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| Literary Work | Year | Author | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Animal Family | 1965 | Randall Jarrell | Illustrated byMaurice Sendak. An orphaned mermaid finds a home in a log cabin by the sea alongside a hunter, a boy, a bear and a lynx. |
| Aquamarine | 2001 | Alice Hoffman | Two 13-year-old girls befriend a sassy teenage mermaid looking for love. It was adapted into the2006 film of the same name by 20th Century Fox, and starringSara Paxton,Emma Roberts andJoJo.[2] |
| A Book of Mermaids | 1967 | Ruth Manning-Sanders | Illustrated byRobin Jacques. The 6th book in "A Book of..." series collects 16 tales of mermaids andmermen from various coastal countries.[3] |
| Caleb's Friend | 1993 | Eric Jon Nones | When Caleb drops his beloved harmonica overboard, it's returned by a pale, lank-haired, monochromatic boy—asea creature whose elegant fish tail can be seen when he turns a joyous somersault, and who reappears when Caleb plays the harmonica again. Though the boy doesn't understand Caleb's words, he's delighted with the rose Caleb gives him, and the two become friends. But to the other fishermen, the sea lad is a spectacle to be sold. After he's captured and put on exhibit, Caleb rescues him; they exchange gifts once again before the boy disappears, never to be forgotten.[4] |
| The Chronicles of Narnia | 1950–1956 | C. S. Lewis | InThe Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first book published inThe Chronicles of Narnia series, mermaids sing at the coronation of the Pevensie children. InVoyage of the Dawn Treader, the third book of the series,Lucy Pevensie sees a group of mermaids and bonds silently with a young mermaid girl. SeeAdaptations of The Chronicles of Narnia |
| A Comb of Wishes | 2022 | Lisa Stringfellow | In a novel set in theCaribbean, a girl grieving her mother's death finds a mermaid's comb and is granted a wish, but the wish comes at a dangerous cost and the mermaid is plotting revenge. |
| Deep Trouble | 1994 | R. L. Stine | The 19th book in theGoosebumps series. A boy named Billy Deep finds a mermaid. |
| El Regalo del Pescador (The Fisherman's Gift) | 2002 | Rocío del Mar Antón Blanco and Dolores Núñez Madrid | During a short overnight journey in which afisherman tries to find "the most beautiful thing from the sea" to give to his young son, he considers a number of wonderful options without being able to make just one choice.[5] One of the many gifts he contemplates is the following: "The fisherman thinks about his son: "I would like to give him a mermaid who sang to him by his bed". What will he bring him? There are so many beautiful things in the sea!" |
| Emily Windsnap series | 2003–present | Liz Kessler | A teenage girl discovers she's a "Semi-Mer" and becomes a mermaid in the water. |
| Everworld series | 1999–2001 | K. A. Applegate | Mer-people live underwater in theRoman version ofAtlantis. |
| Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them | 2001 | J. K. Rowling | A fictional textbook about the magical creatures in the Harry Potter world, including mermaids. They are described as in three different species:sirens,selkies andmerrows. Similar to other humanoid magical creatures in this universe, they do not wield or understand magic themselves. They appear in the fourth and sixth books of the series. |
| The Goblin Tower | 1968 | L. Sprague de Camp | A human king falls in love with a mermaid. The story goes into hilarious detail about the couple's difficult efforts to physically consummate their love, which nearly ends in disaster (he nearly drowns in trying to have sex underwater, and she is nearly killed by his bodyguards in revenge). In the end, the king marries a human woman, though keeping a platonic friendship with the mermaid. |
| The History of Middle-earth:The Book of Lost Tales, Part I | 1983 | J. R. R. Tolkien | Edited byChristopher Tolkien. Mermaids make an appearance. |
| In the Land of Leadale | 2019–present | Ceez | Cayna discovers and rescues Mimily, a green-eyed turquoise mermaid who has been sucked into an undersea portal and trapped underneath the well near the village. Mimily later takes shelter in a communal bathhouse where she does all the laundry with her water manipulation power. It is adapted into series of manga and anime. |
| TheIngo Series | 2005–2012 | Helen Dunmore | Set inCornwall, the main characters Sapphire and Conor discover the world of Ingo. Their mer-friends Faro and Elvira teach them how to breathe underwater. |
| Into the Drowning Deep | 2017 | Mira Grant | A crew making a mockumentary on mermaids is lost at sea, and controversial leaked footage appears to show real mermaids killing them all. Seven years later, a second voyage sets out to prove the existence of the deadly and violent mermaids. |
| Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (DanMachi) | 2013–present | Fujino Ōmori | In thislight novel series, Bell Cranel encounters a young mermaid named Marie on the 25th floor of the Dungeon. It is adapted into manga, anime,[6] and video games. |
| Isadora Moon series | 2016–present | Harriet Muncaster | The second book of the series, "Isadora Moon Goes Camping", introduces a mermaid character that appears in several subsequent stories.[7][8] |
| The Islander | 1998 | Cynthia Rylant | Daniel, a boy who lives on a remote island offBritish Columbia with his grandfather, encounters what he thought at first was a mermaid but later turns out to be a sea otter. |
| Keeper | 2010 | Kathi Appelt | A young girl searches for her mother, Meggie Marie, whom she believes is a mermaid. |
| The Last Mermaid | 2010 | Brendan Connell | A short story in the collectionUnpleasant Tales. It relates how the last mermaid in existence was brought to the table of KingCarlos II of Spain.[9] |
| The Little Mermaid | 1837 | Hans Christian Andersen | Andersen's portrayal of a mermaid shapeshifting into a human has arguably become the standard and has influenced most modern Western depictions of mermaids since it was published. It has beenadapted into various media, the most famous of which are the 1989Disneymovie of the same name and the Filipino comic booksDyesebel. |
| Lost Voices | 2011 | Sarah Porter | The first in a trilogy about abused girls who become mermaids due to a traumatic event, who sing ships to their doom.[10] |
| The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock | 1915 | T. S. Eliot | It uses the metaphor of mermaids to emphasize Prufock's plight: "I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. / I do not think that they will sing to me." See:The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock in popular culture. |
| The Mermaid of Black Conch | 2020 | Monique Roffey | In St Constance, a Caribbean village on the island of Black Conch, David sings to himself in his pirogue and attracts Aycayia, a beautiful young woman cursed by jealous wives to live as a mermaid. She has been swimming the Caribbean Sea for centuries and is entranced by David and his song. Author Monique Roffey created Aycayia's character based on theMami Wata mythology.[11][12] |
| Mermaid's Song | 1989 | Alida Van Gores | Two ocean-dwelling races, the mogs and the oppressed mermaid-like merra, fight for dominance. One merra maid named Elan sets out to compete for the coveted post of guardian to the Sea Dragons. |
| The Mermaid Summer | 1988 | Mollie Hunter | Eric Anderson must leave his island home when he incurs the wrath of a mermaid by slighting her. He can never return unless his grandchildren Jon and Anna confront and tame the mermaid. |
| Mermaid Tails | 2021 | Kyt Wright | Seven interlinked stories featuring the lives and loves of an artist and his strange half-sister set in a fictionalized version of St. Ives. |
| The Merman's Children | 1979 | Poul Anderson | Inspired by the story ofAgnete og Havmanden, this novel follows a family of half-human, half-merfolk siblings as the realm of Faerie is slowly driven out by human influence.[13] |
| Moby-Dick | 1851 | Herman Melville | In Chapter 126, "The Life-Buoy", the crew of thePequod hear human-like cries in the night. Superstitious crewmen believe they are the sounds of mermaids orghosts, which signify a bad omen.Captain Ahab scoffs at this, saying they have merely passed aseal colony in the night. His explanation does little to calm their nerves and the next day a crewman falls to his death from the masthead. SeeAdaptations of Moby-Dick |
| Monster Girl Doctor | 2016–2022 | Yoshino Origuchi | This light novel series includes Lulala Heine, a mermaid from the Merrow Waterways who spends most of her time above water, singing for finance to support her family after her father abandoned her. It is adapted into two-volume manga and anime TV series. |
| The Moon and the Sun | 1997 | Vonda N. McIntyre | A captured mermaid is brought to the court of KingLouis XIV, where a young noblewoman begins trying to free her. |
| Peter and Wendy | 1911 | J. M. Barrie | The mermaids depicted here are the beautiful and mysterious but equally vain creatures residing in the Mermaid's Lagoon inNeverland. They are only friendly toPeter Pan but dislike all other humans, especiallyWendy Darling, as they make splash on them or even attempt to drown them. SeeList of works based on Peter Pan |
| Pinkalicious | 2015 | Victoria Kann | One of the recurring characters, Aqua, is a mermaid (called a mermini), who lives in anaquarium named after her. Her book debut, "Aqualicious", was adapted into an episode of animated seriesPinkalicious & Peterrific.[14] |
| Real Mermaids Series | 2010–2013 | Hélène Boudreau | A teen girl of partial mer-person heritage deals with both human and mermaid problems. |
| Restaurant to Another World | 2015–present | Junpei Inuzuka | Arte, the blue mermaid from the southern seas, is one of the patrons from the Other World serving at the Western Restaurant Nekoya. She uses her magic to change her tail fins into dragon legs when she's on land. |
| The Scarecrow of Oz | 1915 | L. Frank Baum | The main characters are rescued from danger by the mermaids. |
| The Sea Fairies | 1911 | L. Frank Baum | A novel about merfolk. Introduces the characters of Trot and Cap'n Bill, who later live in Oz. |
| The Sea Lady | 1901 | H. G. Wells | A mermaid comes ashore on the southern coast of England in 1899, mingles with genteel society under the alias "MissDorisThalassia Waters, the mermaid's real design is to seduce Harry Chatteris, a man she saw "some years ago" in "the South Seas—near Tonga," who has taken her fancy.[15] |
| The Search for Delicious | 1969 | Natalie Zane Babbitt | A mermaid child named Ardis helps a boy save his kingdom. |
| The Shadow Over Innsmouth | 1936 | H. P. Lovecraft | In the novella there is a grim variant of merfolk lore viaThe Deep Ones. Man-fish creatures are subservient to their patron godsFather Dagon and Mother Hydra. They have an affinity for intermarrying with humans and promoting the worship ofThe Old Ones. |
| Sirena | 1998 | Donna Jo Napoli | A siren falls in love with a shipwrecked sailor, but is unsure if he loves her or her magical singing. This book interprets theSirens ofGreek mythology as mermaids. |
| The Sisters Grimm | 2005–2012 | Michael Buckley | Illustrated by Peter Ferguson. It features many characters from fantasy and fairy tales, includingthe Little Mermaid. |
| The Spiderwick Chronicles | 2003–2009 | Tony DiTerlizzi andHolly Black | The series features merfolk and other water creatures likekelpies,nixies, andsea serpents. |
| The Waterfire Saga | 2014–2016 | Jennifer Donnelly | Six young mermaids from across the world must band together to defeat an ancient evil. |
| Watersong | 2012–2013 | Amanda Hocking | The Sirens are seductive, man-eating immortals who can take a fish-tailed form when they enter the ocean. They transform a young swimmer, Gemma, into one of them. |
| Wet Magic | 1913 | E. Nesbit | Four children hear that a mermaid has been captured by a circus and rescue her. Their reward is to visit the hidden kingdom of the mermaids. |
| The Witcher | 1986–2024 | Andrzej Sapkowski | The series features merpeople being peaceful residing in the Great Sea civilization but unfriendly to humans. One most notably is a mermaid named Sh'eenaz who appeared in the short story "A Little Sacrifice" fromSword of Destiny, the second book of the series, and the Netflix animated film adaptationThe Witcher: Sirens of the Deep.[16] |
| Film | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| The Mermaid | 1904 | Silent film byGeorges Méliès and starring an unknown actress as The Mermaid. This whimsical, four-minute-long film is the first to feature mermaids. |
| Siren of the Sea (orThe Mermaid) | 1911 | Silent film starringAnnette Kellerman as the first mermaid to actually swim in a costume tail in a film. |
| Neptune's Daughter | 1914 | StarringAnnette Kellerman. |
| A Daughter of the Gods | 1916 | StarringAnnette Kellerman. |
| Queen of the Sea | 1918 | StarringAnnette Kellerman. |
| Venus of the South Seas | 1924 | StarringAnnette Kellerman. |
| King Neptune | 1932 | King Neptune and an array of sea creatures come to the rescue of a mermaid captured by lecherous pirates in thisWalt DisneySilly Symphonies cartoon. |
| Betty Boop's Life Guard | 1934 | In thisBetty Boop short film, while underwater, Betty imagines herself as a mermaid until her boyfriend Fearless Fred wakes her up. |
| Merbabies | 1938 | ThisSilly Symphonies cartoon short features a group of diminutive-sized merchildren materializing out of the crashing ocean surf and conducting an underwatercircus along with various sea creatures. |
| Ikan Doejoeng | 1941 | From theDutch East Indies |
| Miranda | 1948 | StarringGlynis Johns as a flirtatious mermaid who goes on land disguised in a wheelchair. |
| Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid | 1948 | StarringAnn Blyth; a man on vacation encounters a mute and alluring mermaid whom he tries to hide at his resort. |
| Million Dollar Mermaid | 1952 | Based on the life ofAnnette Kellerman. |
| Peter Pan | 1953 | Produced byWalt Disney and released byRKO Radio Pictures. The mermaids have a minor role in the film, as they live in the mermaid lagoon. The mischievous mermaids enjoy tormentingWendy, but flee at the sight ofCaptain Hook. |
| Mad About Men | 1954 | Sequel toMiranda (1948). |
| Pekka ja Pätkä sammakkomiehinä (Pekka and Pätkä as Frogmen) | 1954 | In this FinnishPekka Puupää comedy, the heroes rescue a foundered mermaid and carry her to Pekka's apartment. They set her on the bathtub. Pekka's wife Justiina initially sees only her fish-tail and is initially surprised by "a big fish the menfolks have caught" and gets a knife to prepare it as a dinner, but she faints as she sees the mermaid's upper body. |
| Night Tide | 1961 | StarringLinda Lawson andDennis Hopper |
| Mermaids of Tiburon | 1962 | StarringDiane Webber,George Rowe, andTimothy Carey |
| Beach Blanket Bingo | 1965 | StarringFrankie Avalon andAnnette Funicello, this includes a sub-plot of the character Bonehead (Jody McCrea) falling for a mermaid portrayed byLost in Space'sMarta Kristen. |
| The Daydreamer | 1966 | Produced byRankin/Bass Animated Entertainment, this features the stop-motion animation sequence based on "The Little Mermaid". |
| Head | 1968 | StarringThe Monkees, briefly features two mermaids in the opening "Porpoise Song" sequence, surrounded by psychedelic effects. |
| Siren | 1968 | Animated short film |
| Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid | 1975 | Produced byToei Animation, a Japanese anime film adaptation of a classic tale features the two main characters, a young blonde mermaid named Marina, and her dolphin calf friend named Fritz. |
| Local Hero | 1984 | Marine researcher Marina (Jenny Seagrove) is suspected by her love interest of being a mermaid. |
| Splash | 1984 | StarringDaryl Hannah andTom Hanks, Hannah plays a mermaid who falls in love with a human. She can walk on dry land when in human form, but her legs change into a fish tail whenever she gets wet. Much of the movie revolves around her humorous attempts to conceal her true identity from her lover. A made-for-television sequel,Splash, Too[18] followed in 1988, starringAmy Yasbeck andTodd Waring. |
| Talk Dirty to Me Part III | 1984 | The third and fourth films in the adult film seriesTalk Dirty to Me feature mermaids who come ashore to find men. As inSplash, the mermaids can walk on dry land, and their legs become tails in water. The film endured controversy when it became public knowledge in 1986 that, at the time of filming, actressTraci Lords was 16-year-old and, therefore, underage in the US. |
| Mermaid in the Manhole | 1988 | A Tokyo-based shock film centered around a decaying mermaid found living in the Tokyo sewer system. This is a very gruesome film; it focuses on the mermaid's decay and subsequent death from exposure to toxic environment of the sewer. |
| The Little Mermaid | 1989 | Produced byWalt Disney Studios, this film portrays a variant of the story byHans Christian Andersen aboutAriel, the mermaid princess who wished for legs. This film was followed by a prequel TV series (The Little Mermaid), a direct-to-video sequel titledThe Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea featuring the title character's daughter, and a DTV prequel movie in 2008 titledThe Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning. Alive-action adaptation of the original film directed byRob Marshall was released in 2023. |
| Hook | 1991 | Produced byTriStar PicturesAmblin Entertainment, three mermaids appear whenPeter Pan (Robin Williams) is dropped into the ocean inNeverland. |
| The Secret of Roan Inish | 1994 | Incorporates mysticism into the selkies and their fae children. |
| Mermaid Got Married | 1994 | This Hong Kong romantic-comedy (based onSplash) tells the story of a school teacher who falls in love with a mermaid who'd rescued him as a young boy. The film stars Asian cinema idolsEkin Cheng,Christy Chung, andTakeshi Kaneshiro. |
| Magic Island | 1995 | Lily (Jessie-Ann Friend), a young mermaid, befriends a group of buccaneers and joins them on their quest for Blackbeard's treasure. |
| Sabrina Down Under | 1999 | Sabrina (Melissa Joan Hart) travels to Australia'sGreat Barrier Reef with her best friend Gwen (Tara Charendoff), a fellow witch from England, for a week-long vacation where they try to help protect a hidden mermaid colony whose habitat is threatened byocean pollution, and by a local marine biologist, Dr. Julian Martin. |
| The Thirteenth Year | 1999 | A teen learns that his birth mother is a mermaid after he begins to grow fins and slimy scales on his thirteenth birthday.[19] |
| She Creature | 2001 | Circa 1900, a carnival barker named Angus discovers a mermaid held captive in a tank by a disturbed old man. Angus steals the mermaid and loads her on a ship headed for America. When the mermaid is discovered, Angus's lover Lily begins to suspect that the mermaid is more dangerous than she first seemed. |
| Mermaids | 2003 | Erika Heynatz, Nikita Ager, and Sarah Laine are a trio of mermaids who solve their father's murder. |
| Peter Pan | 2003 | Mermaids appear in a small segment: the narrator says they "are not like the mermaids in stories" though Wendy is thrilled by them. These mermaids have webbed fingers, sharp teeth and markings on their faces. Peter asks them if Captain Hook has kidnapped John and Michael, which the mermaids confirm. One of them also tries to drown Wendy. |
| The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie | 2004 | Princess Mindy, a mermaid who is the daughter of King Neptune, helpsSpongeBob andPatrick get the crown from Shell City. |
| Sirène song | 2005 | Short feature by Fanny Jean-Noel. A mermaid is seeking for a job. |
| Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry | 2005 | In the animateddirect-to-video film, racer Steed Dirkly spots a mermaid on an island, but it turns out she is a Mirahna, a cannibalistic mermaid who feeds Steed to her offspring. She is a cross between a mermaid and apiranha, with a beautiful body, long orange hair, yellow seashells for abra, a magenta fish tail, aquatic fish ears, and the head of a piranha. |
| Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | 2005 | Merpeople appear briefly during the second task. |
| The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe | 2005 | Mermaids appear briefly at the end of the story. |
| Barbie Fairytopia: Mermaidia | 2006 | In this Barbie doll direct-to-video movie, Elina travels to Mermaidia to save her friend Nalu, the merman prince, who has been kidnapped by the evil Laverna. It's up to Elina to stop them with the help of Nori, a headstrong mermaid who does not trust outsiders. It is a sequel toBarbie: Fairytopia (2005). |
| Aquamarine | 2006 | The title character is a mermaid (Sara Paxton) who is washed ashore after a violent storm. She decides to search for true love on land and makes two good human friends (Joanna "JoJo" Levesque andEmma Roberts) along the way.[2] |
| Legend of Sudsakorn | 2006 | The main character,Charlie Trairat, is the son of a mermaid who is sent on a magical quest to find his father, a prince. |
| Fishtales | 2007 | Widowed father Professor Thomas Bradley (Billy Zane) falls in love with a mermaid named Neried (Kelly Brook), who takes on a human form during the night. |
| Barbie: Mariposa and Her Butterfly Fairy Friends | 2008 | This Barbie doll direct-to-video film features mermaids living in the underwater realm of the Waterwhirls, including the twin sisters Coral and Anemone. |
| Princess | 2008 | Starring Shileen Paton as a mermaid named Cala who lives under thepond. |
| Ponyo | 2008 | Japanese film directed by creatorHayao Miyazaki about agoldfish who wants to become a human girl due to her relationship with a young boy. |
| Bedtime Stories | 2008 | A mermaid appears in the book that Skeeter gives to Bobbi and Patrick. |
| Doraemon: Nobita's Great Battle of the Mermaid King | 2010 | Doraemon,Nobita, Shizuka, Gian and Suneo befriend Sophia, the mermaid princess from an ancient underwater kingdom, and find themselves amid a conflict between the mermaids and the mermen. |
| Barbie in a Mermaid Tale | 2010 | In this Barbie doll direct-to-video movie, Barbie stars as Merliah Summers, a surfing champion fromMalibu. One minute she's a normal teenager and the next she learns a shocking family secret: she's a mermaid! Merliah and her dolphin friend Zuma set off on an undersea adventure to rescue her mother, Queen Calissa of Oceana. |
| Hoshisuna no Shima no Chiisana Tenshi (Mermaid Smile) | 2010 | Japanese film starringD-Boys membersTetsuya Makita andMasashi Mikami, andRiho Iida ofLove Live! fame. The story is of a girl who is found washed up on the shore in a tourist area ofOkinawa and suspected of being a mermaid. |
| Empires of the Deep | 2011 | A human falls in love with a mermaid in a fantasy world. |
| Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides | 2011 | During their search for theFountain of Youth,Jack Sparrow and his crew encounter several mermaids dwelling in Whitecap Bay, including Syrena (Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey), Tamara (Gemma Ward) and Marina (Jorgelina Airaldi). |
| Small Fry | 2011 | Part of theToy Story Toons short animations.Buzz Lightyear meets a plastic toy mermaid named Neptuna who always carries hertrident and sits on a rock. |
| Barbie in a Mermaid Tale 2 | 2012 | In this Barbie doll direct-to-video movie sequel, Merliah heads to Australia for the ultimate surfing competition. When the evil mermaid Eris escapes from her whirlpool, thanks to Kylie Morgan who steals Merliah's necklace, with plans to take Calissa's spot on the throne of Aquellia and get the power of Merilia, Merliah and her sea friends dive in to stop her. |
| Ice Age: Continental Drift | 2012 | In the cases of Sid the Sloth and Captain Gutt, the fishlike creatures called sirens shapeshift into a mermaid-themed sloth (mersloth) and a mermaid-themed ape (merape) and near the end of the film, the latter traumatizes the tyrant ape by eating him. |
| The Legend of Sarila | 2013 | Features a mermaid-like goddess named Sedna. |
| Barbie: The Pearl Princess | 2014 | In this Barbie doll direct-to-video movie Barbie stars as Lumina, a mermaid who dreams of being a princess. Lumina and her best friend Kuda, a pink seahorse, embark on an adventure to a majestic mer-kingdom called Seagundia. There, she discovers that her magic is the key to unlocking her true destiny and ultimately saving the kingdom. |
| Maidens of the Sea | 2014 | The second feature film by writer/director Kerri Kuchta, this film tells the story of a lonely sailor who discovers an island of mermaids. |
| Killer Mermaid | 2014 | Horror film directed by Milan Todorovic |
| Barbie and the Secret Door | 2014 | This Barbie doll direct-to-video movie includes Romy, a mermaid who loses her tail under the threat of the spoiled princess Malucia. |
| The Lure | 2015 | Polish horror-musical film directed byAgnieszka Smoczyńska which chronicles two carnivorous mermaids who begin working as nightclub performers in 1980sWarsaw. |
| The Mermaid | 2016 | Chinese film starringLin Yun and directed by the Hong Kong comedianStephen Chow. |
| Lu Over the Wall | 2017 | Japanese anime film about aningyo girl who forms an unlikely friendship with a teenage boy. |
| Scales: Mermaids Are Real | 2017 | A young girl named Siren Philips (Emmy Perry) faces the bittersweet reality that, on the eve of her twelfth birthday, she is destined to turn into a mermaid.[20] |
| Barbie Dolphin Magic | 2017 | In this Barbie doll direct-to-video film, Barbie, her sistersSkipper, Stacie and Chelsea, andKen help Isla the mermaid rescue the four Gemstone Dolphins from the marine facility. Isla uses her shell necklace to magically transform her tail into human legs. |
| My Fairy Tail Love Story | 2018 | A girl finds a rock while diving and becomes a mermaid. |
| Ozero myortvykh (The Mermaid: The Lake of the Dead) | 2018 | Russian horror film inspired by Slavic mythology directed by Svyatoslav Podgaevskiy. |
| The Little Mermaid | 2018 | A mermaid named Elizabeth (Poppy Drayton) is forced by an evil wizard to eternally live a life away from her ocean home enslaved in the circus inMississippi. |
| Aquaman | 2018 | One of the seven separated nations inAtlantis is the merfolk-like people called the Fishermen, most notably King Ricou (Djimon Hounsou), Queen Rina (Natalia Safran) and Princess Scales (Sophia Forrest). |
| The Lighthouse | 2019 | Several parts of the movie involve Winslow having visions of a mermaid, including having sexual intercourse with it. |
| Onward | 2020 | Mermaids in this film are portrayed to have ears that look like fish fins in addition to their fishlike tails. In the trailer, one of the mermaids is shown relaxing in an inflatable pool. |
| Ten-Cent Daisy | 2021 | The youngest of three sisters is secretly a mermaid with healing powers, although she can only take mermaid form in her home waters of the Caribbean. The movie also mentions African-Caribbean legends of the fate of prisoners thrown fromslave ships. |
| Secret Magic Control Agency | 2021 | A white mermaid princess with blond hair tied inox horns is found in one of the cages at the circus, so Agent Gretel foils the ringmaster and the two strongmen to set the mermaid free and she in return gives her metallic seashell pendant as part of her gratitude. She turns out to be the daughter of the golden-dressed mermaid queen who encounters Hansel and Gretel as children. There are also other colored mermaids who live in their own kingdom and all these mermaids can change their tails into legs depending on where they surface. |
| Barbie: Mermaid Power | 2022 | A sequel toBarbie Dolphin Magic, "Malibu" Barbie and her sisters and "Brooklyn" Barbie are summoned by Isla to compete to be the Power Keeper who can ensure the safety of the underwater kingdom of Pacifica. |
| Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken | 2023 | In thisDreamWorks Animation film, mermaids are the evil, power-hungry enemies of noble, protectivekrakens. |
| Barbie | 2023 | In this live-action Barbie doll film, there are Mermaid Barbie (Dua Lipa) and Merman Ken (John Cena) residing in Barbieland.[21][22] |
| The Little Mermaid | 2024 | Horror film adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale starring Lydia Helen and Mike Markoff and directed by Leigh Scott.[23] |
| Show | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog | 1993 | In episode 56 "The Little Merhog",Sonic andTails help Merna, the mermaid-themed hedgehog (merhog), protect an underwater grotto of Mertopia from the threat of Captain John Paul Memo. |
| Adventures of the Gummi Bears | 1987 | In Season 3 episode 5 "Water Way to Go", Sunni and Gusto Gummi meet Aquarianne, a mermaid on the beach who is captured by Duke Igthorn in an attempt to use her largeleviathan companion Finwithit to attack the kingdom of Dunwyn. |
| Aladdin | 1994–1995 | In the season 2 episode "Elemental, My Dear Jasmine", an evil mermaidsorceress named Saleen trapsPrincess Jasmine underwater and turns her tail into human legs in an attempt to stealAladdin for herself. In another episode "Shark Treatment", she turns Aladdin into a shark. Saleen is also associated with an octopus named Armand. |
| American Dragon: Jake Long | 2005–2007 | There are two mermaids featured in thisDisney Channel animated series; one is Silver who is afraid of water and a medical science prodigy, and the other is Ms. Dolores Derceto who works as a junior high school principal while on wheelchair. |
| Aquaman | 2006 | The main antagonist of thetelevision pilot is Nadia (Adrianne Palicki), a killersiren/mermaid-like creature. |
| Austin & Ally | 2011–2016 | In season 3 episode 11 "Directors & Divas", the spoiled actress Brandy Braxton (Grace Gillam) takes the role of a mermaid for the upcoming film calledThe Pilot and the Mermaid. |
| Bakugan Battle Brawlers | 2009–2010 | In this anime, Klaus's guardian Bakugan, Sirenoid, is a mermaid. |
| Baywatch | 1989–2001 | Marliece Andrada plays a mermaid in the episode "Rendezvous". |
| Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom | 2009–2013 | In episode 46 of season 2 "The Mermaid", Lucy and her dad find a glittery mirror on the bottom of the lake, which actually belongs to Oceana the red-haired blue mermaid who needs it back. |
| Bermuda Triangle: Colorful Pastrale | 2019 | The Japanese anime series that involves five young mermaids, Cora, Sonata, Kanon, Fina and Serena, going through normal everyday lives underwater. |
| Black Cat | 2005–2006 | One of the main characters, Eve, uses nanomachines to give herself transformation abilities, and once she transforms into a mermaid. |
| Bubble Guppies | 2011–2023 | ThisNick Jr. animated series revolves around a group of seven merfolk preschoolers, named Molly, Gil, Goby, Deema, Oona, Nonny and Zooli. |
| Camp Lakebottom | 2013–2017 | In the first half of episode 17 of season 1, "McGee the Mermaid", whilewater fighting, the three main characters accidentally revive Esmeralda, the evil mermaid who floods the titular summer camp in her first step towards the domination of Earth. |
| Charmed | 1998–2006 | In the 2002 fifth-season episode "A Witch's Tail", a mermaid (Jaime Pressly) enlists the help of main characterPhoebe Halliwell (Alyssa Milano) to fight against a sea witch.Mermaid was aCharmed spin-off developed forThe WB, since the theme of mermaids was recognized to have potential for its own series, and a one-hour pilot was filmed. However, after The WB and theUPN merged intoThe CW channel, the resulting network passed on the series. |
| Chloe's Closet | 2010–2014 | The main character Chloe Corbin and her friends Tara, Daniela and Lilian transform into mermaids in three episodes "Purple Like Me", "He's Got Rhythm" and "Catch of the Day". One episode "Singing at Sea" features the singing mermaid trio called the Mermaid-ettes. |
| Clutch Cargo | 1959–1960 | In this series'story arc, "The Missing Mermaid", Minnie the mermaid is captured by the spies, and Clutch Cargo and his friends must rescue her. |
| Cutie Honey | 1973–1974 | One of Honey Kisaragi's transformations is a mermaid, which she uses to survive harsh weather conditions at sea. |
| Cyberchase | 2002–present | A cyber-mermaid named Binary lives in the Aquari-yum. She is green and purple, and she works as agatekeeper and tames several sea animals. |
| Danny and the Mermaid | 1978 | A pilot episode for a series that didn't get picked up. It was a 30-minute sci-fi comedy starringRay Walston (famous for his previous successful seriesMy Favorite Martian). Walston played Professor Stoneman, helping his student apprentice Danny Stevens (Patrick Collins) to be an oceanographer. Danny first learns of the mermaid, Aqua (Harlee McBride), a colorful blond mermaid with blue eyes and iridescent scales, when she swims by one of the portholes in their underwater lab. Later, he meets her and she communicates with them through a hatch on the lab's floor. |
| Dexter's Laboratory | 1996–2003 | In the episode "Ocean Commotion," while the family visit in the beach, Dee Dee (in a mermaid costume) gets kidnapped by some maniac sailors and Dexter and Moby Dick are the only ones to save her. This is a parody of Disney'sThe Little Mermaid, and ofMoby Dick. |
| Digimon Fusion | 2010–2012 | Mermaimon is a sea creature-type Digimon that resembles a mermaid with a pirate-like style. |
| Disenchantment | 2018–2023 | One of the secondary characters in this adult animation series is Mora the Mermaid, who is the princess of Mermaid Island and the love interest ofPrincess Bean.[31][32] |
| Doc McStuffins | 2012–2020 | In the season 1 episode "Get Set to Get Wet", Dottie McStuffins and her toy friends help Melinda, the toy mermaid who keeps sinking to the bottom of the wading pool, to learn how to swim. |
| Doctor Who | 1963–present | In thesixth season, a mermaid or siren-like creature appears in the episode "The Curse of the Black Spot". |
| Dora the Explorer | 2007 | This Nick Jr. series features several mermaids that live in a mermaid kingdom, including Mariana and Maribel, introduced from the season 4 special "Dora Saves the Mermaids". |
| Dragonball | 1986–1989 | Goku has to meetMaster Roshi's demand to bring a beautiful girl to him to receive his teachings; one of the girls he brings is a mermaid, much to Roshi's surprise. |
| Dyesebel | 2008 | A drama-fantasy series based on Mars Ravelo'screation inGMA Network in thePhilippines.Marina is also a drama-fantasy series inABS-CBN andMarinara is a comedy-fantasy series in GMA Network. |
| El Chavo Animado | 2006–2014 | In the 2010 episode "Aventura Submarina (Submarine Adventure)" (episode 9 (87 of the entire series), season 4)El Chavo meets three kindhearted mermaid princesses during a vacation trip alongside the rest of his friends inAcapulco who offer to take him to their underwater kingdom after mistaking him for a teenagemerman prince who has apparently gone missing but who returns shortly thereafter, explaining he only wished to explore the human world for a few days. Quico, Noño, Paty and La Popis also try to rescue El Chavo in asubmarine after witnessing the mermaids submerging their friend near the beach. When the children try to tell the rest of their friends about their adventure, the adults of the group don't believe them and tell them it was only a dream. |
| Elena of Avalor | 2016–2020 | In the 2018 special "Song of the Sirenas" (episode 15 (40 of the entire series), season 2), Princess Elena and her royal family visit the coastal city of Nueva Vista where she unexpectedly meets the two siblings, Princess Marisa and Prince Marzel, from an undersea kingdom of Coronado who are half-merfolk due to their mother Queen Camila being originally a human. |
| Ever After High | 2013–2019 | Meeshell Mermaid, daughter of the Little Mermaid. |
| Faerie Tale Theatre | 1982–1987 | In an episode,Treat Williams andPam Dawber help stage a production ofThe Little Mermaid that follows Andersen's story much more closely than the Disney film that came out three years later. |
| The Fairly OddParents | 2001–2017 | Episodes "Something's Fishy!" and "Dadlantis" occasionally feature the merfolk living inAtlantis. |
| Fairy Tail | 2009–2019 | The main female protagonist,Lucy Heartfilia, uses celestial spirits, one of which is a mermaid called Aquarius. Also, another character, Lisanna Strauss, uses animal-based transformations, and one of her tricks is to turn into a mermaid (in an anime-only episode). Furthermore, in the final arc, Lucy and another character, Brandish Mu, are temporarily turned into mermaids when Aquarius takes them to the Memory of the Stars to show them the truth about their mothers. |
| Fantasy Island | 1977–1984 | Mermaids are occasionally depicted as being in conflict with Mr. Rourke (Ricardo Montalbán). Most notably Princess Nyah (portrayed byMichelle Phillips ofThe Mamas & the Papas fame), who appeared in three episodes in 1979, 1980 and 1984. |
| Flipper | 1995–2000 | In an episode, Dean (Scott Michaelson), finds a mermaid (Rachel Blakely) in one of his dives. Michaelson played amerman inSabrina Down Under. |
| Gravity Falls | 2012–2016 | In episode 15 ofseason 1 "The Deep End",Mabel meets Mermando, the Hispanic merman from theGulf of Mexico who has been caught in the net by a fisherman and trapped in the public swimming pool. |
| The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy | 2001–2007 | In episode 4 of season 6 "Hey, Water You Doing?", Billy, Mandy and Grim are saved from their sacrifice by the mermaid princess Hariel (parody ofAriel) who demands to marry Billy to inherit the undersea kingdom of Gogan Land but rivals with her sister the mer-squid Uvula (parody ofUrsula) over his affection. Hariel and Uvula's father is the wrestling merman king Triceps (parody of King Triton and wrestlerHulk Hogan). |
| H2O: Just Add Water | 2006–2010 | Three teenage girls who, after encountering a mysterious sea cave, transform into mermaids in ten seconds whenever water touches any part of their bodies. In addition, they each have supernatural abilities over water in each of its forms:water, rain, floods, ice, snow, hail, cold, sleet, steam, mist and fog. |
| H2O: Mermaid Adventures | 2015 | An animated spin-off series ofH2O: Just Add Water. |
| The Idle Mermaid (잉여공주) | 2014 | AtvN drama series loosely inspired by Hans Christian Andersen'sThe Little Mermaid. |
| Jake and the Never Land Pirates | 2011–2016 | In thisDisney Junior series, a young mermaid named Marina befriends the young pirates and helps them on their adventures. |
| Kero Kero Chime | 1997 | The protagonists help a mermaid reach out to her prince, after gaining the ability to assume human form when dry, in three days or she will turn into sea foam. |
| Legend of Heaven and Earth - The Mermaid Beauty | 2000 | TheTaiwanese fantasy series, which shows various stories and legends from Asian mythology, depicts a story similar to Hans Christian Andersen's "Little Mermaid" in which the main protagonist is the mermaid daughter of an undersea sorceress who is trapped in a conch shell for centuries until freed. While disguised as human, she explores the outside world and falls in love with one of three princely sons. The story focuses on how she manages to protect both her love and the undersea land that she comes from. The series was shown onAZN Television shortly before the network's cancellation in 2007. |
| The Legend of the Blue Sea (푸른 바다의 전설) | 2016 | ASBS drama series. |
| Little Charmers | 2015–2017 | The Charmer trio Hazel, Lavender and Posie befriend the mermaid princess Corina in the two episodes, "A Charmazing Mermaid Tale" and "Missing Mermaid Message". |
| Love Live! Sunshine!! | 2016–2017 | InEpisode 5 of the show, an imagination scene features the main character Chika Takami and four of the other members of Aqours as mermaids.[33] |
| Magi-Nation | 2007–2010 | In one of the episodes, Edyn turns into a mermaid complete with aquatic fish ears, webbed hands and a mermaid's tail, and dives into the depth of the water with her friends. Some other characters are mermaids and one of them, Trup'tika, is very friendly. |
| Mahō no Mako-chan | 1970–1971 | A modern re-telling ofThe Little Mermaid, the Japanese anime series follows Mako, the sassy 15-year-old mermaid, as she makes a deal with the sea hag to permanently become a human so she can find Akira Shigeno, a young man she falls in love with, only to be adopted by zoologist Urashima as his granddaughter. While on the surface, Mako possesses a magicalpendant called the "Life of a Mermaid", gifted from her father theDragon King. |
| Mako: Island of Secrets | 2013 | A spin-off series ofH2O: Just Add Water. |
| Maurice Sendak's Little Bear | 1995–2003 | Little Bear occasionally meets a mermaid with teal hair and blue tail who lives in the lake and goes with him to see places underwater. |
| Mermaid Magic | 2024–present | ThisNetflix animated series follows the adventures of Merlinda, the mermaid princess of Mertropia, and her two loyal friends Sasha and Nerissa who together carry their magical tridents to protect the kingdom from Barbarossa the pirate and Tempesta the sea witch.[34] |
| Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch | 2003–2004 | A group of mermaid princesses who become pop singers to fight evil. |
| Mermaid Saga | 1984–1994 | A Japanese animation series in 3 to 4 volumes, depending on the country release distribution. It was based on the manga series of the same title by Rumiko Takahashi, which tells that when a person eats the flesh of a mermaid, they can gain immortality. In the United States, it has been dubbed into English except for its theme song which remains in Japanese. There are nine episodes in the American release (2003–2004): "Mermaid (Never) Smile", "The Village of Fighting Fish", "Mermaid's Forest", "Dreams End", "Mermaid's Promise", "Mermaid's Scar", "The Ash Princess", "Mermaid's Gaze" and "Mermaid's Mask". |
| Mermaids: The Body Found | 2012 | A docufiction telefilm aired onAnimal Planet andDiscovery Channel about scientific evidence of merfolk. The program was criticized for its hoax.[35][36] |
| Mickey Mouse Funhouse | 2021–present | Mickey,Minnie,Donald,Daisy andGoofy enter Underwater Ocean World where they are transformed into merfolk in a few episodes, "Goldfish Goofy!", "Mermaids to the Rescue" and "The Lost Party Rings!" |
| Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor | 1967 | In episode 16 "The Shimmering Screen", Moby Dick, Tom, Tub and Scooby must pass through the shimmering screen to rescue a mermaid who has been kidnapped by the Manta Knight. |
| Monster Musume | 2015 | One of the main characters, Meroune Lorelei, is a mermaid. |
| My Bride Is a Mermaid | 2007 | A boy named Nagasumi Michishio is saved by a mermaid named Sun Seto, but it is the mermaids' law, when a human sees a mermaid's true form, the human or the mermaid has to be killed. The only way to solve this problem for him is to marry her. |
| My Parents are Aliens | 1999–2006 | In an episode "The Tail of the Knitted Map", Sophie morphs into a mermaid. |
| Namiuchigiwa no Muromi-san | 2013 | Japanese anime comedy series about a cheerfulningyo. |
| Night Gallery | 1972 | Episode 46, Season 2 called "Lindemann's Catch," withRod Serling in his opening introductions, who also introducedThe Twilight Zone series. A story about a sea captain whose desires are again awakened as he catches a mermaid on his little boat. As she has a tail from the waist down, she isn't of course quite what he wants. He seeks out a potion to change her into a complete woman. He gives her the potion and leaves her below deck. He expects that when he returns, she will be a complete woman, but she is rather now having a fish torso. The analogy of the episode demonstrates a man's innate need for a woman - even as the captain is found grasping for her feet, now a horrendous malformed creature as she attempts to jump ship. |
| Once Upon a Time | 2011–2018 | Ariel (Joanna Garcia) debuts inseason three of the ABC series. A pod of mermaids also attacks The Jolly Roger.Ursula (Merrin Dungey;Tiffany Boone in her youth) debuts inseason four. |
| One Piece | 1999–present | This anime series features many mermaids residing in Fish-Man Island, most notably Kokoro, Camie, Princess Shirahoshi, and Madam Shyarly. |
| Pair of Kings | 2010–2013 | In season 1 episode 3 "A Mermaid's Tail", five mermaids found on the beach are brought to the castle to turn into human princesses but actually seduce the twin kings Brady and Boomer. They even turn Mikayla Makoola (Kelsey Asbille) into a mermaid herself, causing her to talk in dolphin squeak, to prevent her to reveal their plan to take over the Kingdom of Kinkow. One mermaid also appeared in the season 2 episode, "Let the Clips Show". |
| Passions | 2006 | A mermaid, namely Siren (Brandi Burkhardt), is conjured fromThe Little Mermaid story by a young witch Endora Lenox (Nicole Cox) in an attempt to have her come between Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald (Adrian Bellani) and Kay Bennett (Heidi Mueller) developing relationship, as Kay is already engaged to Endora's half-brotherFox Crane (Mark Wystrach). Siren falls in love with Miguel, to which she tries to place him under a curse by having sex with him, after rescuing him from drowning. But her curse is seized by Kay and Fox, leading Endora to turn her into a doll and place her into a fishtank. |
| Pet Shop of Horrors | 1999 | The one episode of this anime miniseries, "Delicious", involves a mermaid who resembles Evangeline Blue. |
| Pokémon | 1997–present | Ash Ketchum's friendMisty appears as a mermaid in two episodes: "The Misty Mermaid" fromPokémon: Indigo League and "Cerulean Blues" fromPokémon Chronicles. |
| The Powerpuff Girls | 2016–2019 | In the season 2 episode "The Buttercup Job", Buttercup and Jemmica don their mermaid disguises to explore around Atlantis. |
| The Prince of Atlantis | 1997 | One of the main characters is Oya, a small mermaid resembling aray. |
| Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders | 1995–1996 | In the season 2 episode "The Jewel of the Sea", a merboy named Gilly steals the Heart Stone from Tamara and becomes a human, leaving her, Princess Gwenevere and Fallon to transform into mermaids with the Magic Pearl. |
| Pucca | 2006–2008 | The titular character appears as a mermaid in episodes "A Close Shave" and "Pucca's Fishy Tale". |
| ReBoot | 1994–2001 | In the 1995 episode "AndrAla" (episode 6 (19 of the entire series), season 2), Bob and Dot become merfolk during the underwater game. |
| Reborn! | 2006–2010 | In this anime, Bluebell, the youngest member of the Real Six Funeral Wreaths, uses her Carnage Box to transform into part-Shonisaurus, gaining a form similar to a mermaid. |
| Renkin 3-kyū Magical? Pokān | 2006 | In the anime, a mermaid princess named Lulu appears in episode 5, "A Tiring Spell Is a Trip to the Beach/Love's Spell Is a Trip to the Beach". |
| Rilu Rilu Fairilu | 2016–2019 | This anime series features a group of mermaid-fairy hybrids called Mermaid Fairilu. |
| Riptide | 1984–1986 | "Catch of the Day" (Season 2, Episode 3) involved a mermaid.[37] |
| Rosario + Vampire | 2008 | A band of mermaids makes up the school's Swim Club, where they lure the male students in to suck their life force for survival. |
| Rupert | 1991–1997 | In one of the episodes, "Rupert's Undersea Adventure", a young blond mermaid named Marina befriends the main protagonistRupert Bear. Another episode, "Rupert and the Mystery Isle", features a merboy named Finian. |
| Sabrina the Teenage Witch | 1996–2003 | Sabrina and a friend turn into mermaids in the episode "Wiccan of the Sea". A similar event happens in the animated telefilmSabrina: Friends Forever. |
| Sailor Moon R | 1993–1994 | The wicked mermaid Cardian Amphibia appears in the episode "Raye's Day in the Spotlight". |
| Santiago of the Seas | 2020–2023 | This Nick Jr. animated series features Lorelai, the best friend of Santiago Montes and Tomás from Merlandia, who uses her magical Bracelet of Pearls to transform between a girl and a mermaid whenever needed. |
| Sgt. Frog | 2004–2011 | The main human male protagonist, Fuyuki Hinata, befriends a mermaid while she is in human form. |
| She-Ra: Princess of Power | 1985–1987 | Mermista, Princess of Salineas has water-based powers, including the ability to transform into a mermaid. She also appears in the animated reboot,She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018–2020). |
| Shimmer and Shine | 2017 | In the Season 3 episode “Mermaid Mayhem”, Shimmer, Shine and Leah transform into mermaids and Zeta is a sea witch under the ocean of Zahramay Falls. |
| Siren | 2018–2020 | |
| Smile Pretty Cure!/Glitter Force | 2012 | In episode 30 (25 inGlitter Force) in the series, the girls transform into mermaids, thanks to a Cure Decor/Glitter Charm. |
| The Smurfs | 1983 | Handy Smurf falls in love with a mermaid named Marina who has green scales and purple hair, first appeared in episode 75 "Handy's Sweetheart". |
| Snorks | 1984–1988 | In episode 9 of season 2 "The Littlest Mermaid", Serena is a very small mermaid who Dimmy Finster and Casey Kelp rescue from large winds, until Dr. Strangesnork changes her into gigantic size. |
| Sofia the First | 2012–2018 | This Disney Junior series features Merroway Cove, an underwater kingdom of merfolk including Queen Emmaline and her daughters Cora and Oona. Ariel from Disney'sThe Little Mermaid also makes an appearance in an episode of the series. |
| The Space Kidettes | 1967 | In the 18th episode of this animated series, Captain Skyhook and Static capture the space mermaid named Hydro Jean, along with the Space Kidettes. |
| Star Twinkle PreCure | 2019 | The Star PrincessPisces appears in the form of a mermaid. Also in Episode 27 of the series, the Cures become mermaids. |
| The Starry Night, The Starry Sea | 2017 | The Chinese drama series onHunan TV features the love story of a merman and a young woman. |
| Stingray | 1964 | This series includes stop-motion puppetry that features a mermaid named Marina. However, unlike typical mermaids she has no tail; instead, she swims with two legs and displays the ability to breathe underwater. Both more well known, and popularly known,[citation needed] are these particular character puppets also seen in theThunderbirds series that was produced 1965–1966. |
| Super Why! | 2008 | The Super Readers jump into the book of The Little Mermaid and the mermaid in the story is treated by the other people on the land. |
| Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938 (구미호뎐 1938) | 2023 | AtvN drama series features Jang Yeo-hee, a half-blood mermaid with beautiful singing voice.[38] |
| Tokyo Mew Mew | 2002–2003 | The character Lettuce can use mew power around her legs to form a mermaid-like tail to move underwater. |
| Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure | 2021 | One of the main cures, Laura/Cure La Mer, is a mermaid from Grand Ocean. |
| Undersea Boy Marine | 1969 | Marine Boy has a friend named Neptina who is a young mermaid with long flowing hair and a magic pearl she wears around her neck. |
| The Vision of Escaflowne | 1996 | In episode 14, Dryden Fassa helps a mermaid named Sylphy return to her home. |
| Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea | 1967 | It has a story called "The Mermaid" (Season 3, Episode 77); at the opening of the episode one can see the mermaid unnoticed by Commander Lee Crane (David Hedison) go swimming by the S.S.R.N.Seaview submarine's monitoring window. |
| We Baby Bears | 2022–present | In episode 4 of season 1 "The Little Mer-Bear", Grizz, Panda and Ice Bear transform into mer-bears and meet Farah the mermaid, with whom they must protect the sea from the Robot Crab. |
| Winx Club | 2004–2019 | The Italian animation series features the winged mermaids, most notably Princess Tressa and her twin brothers Prince Nereus and Prince Tritannus, and other water creatures including the water nymphs and the selkies. There are also the three mermaids appearing in the second season of spin-off seriesWorld of Winx. |
| Wishfart | 2017–2018 | The Canadian animated series features Tsuni, the easy-going mermaid who rides on askateboard and works at a comic bookstore. |
| Wonder Pets! | 2009 | In one episode, the three titular class pets help a mermaid who wants to be a pirate. |
| Xiaolin Showdown | 2003–2006 | In "Screams of the Siren", Dyris was a beautiful mermaid who sought to put the world underwater. She, however, only remained beautiful when she was in the water. On dry land, she returned into her true monstrous form. |
| Yes! PreCure 5 (GoGo) | 2008 | The main six girls become mermaids in one of the episodes. |
| Zig & Sharko | 2010 | The French animation series features Marina the mermaid. Zig the hyena wants to eat her but her friend and bodyguard Sharko the shark protects her. |