loading…
The mystery of the Fiji Mermaid was revealed by scientists from Northern Kentucky University by conducting X-rays and CT scans. Photo/Daily Mail
WASHINGTON – The mystery of the Fiji Mermaid has been revealed by scientists from Northern Kentucky University by conducting X-rays and CT scans. The results of this Fijian Mermaid mummy surprised scientists because it contained a strange mix of fish, monkey and reptile species.
Joseph Cress, a radiologist at Northern Kentucky University, said the Fiji Mermaid is a mix of at least three externally different species. There was the head and torso of a monkey, its hands looked like amphibian hands almost like an alligator, crocodile, or some kind of lizard.
“Then the tail resembles a fish, again, the species is unknown. “This is clearly made, almost made like Frankenstein, so I want to know which parts are put together,” said Cress, quoted by SINDOnews from the Daily Mail page, Tuesday (24/10/2023).
It is known that the mummified Fiji Mermaid was brought from Japan by an American sailor in 1906 and donated to the Clark County Historical Society in Springfield, Ohio. Its figure was so strange with a grimacing face, strange teeth, large claws, fish-like underside, and a layer of downy gray hair, that it gave chills to anyone who saw it.
Natalie Fritz of the Clark County Historical Society said the oddity was a hoax creature made famous by PT Barnum. It is known that Barnum, whose life inspired the 2017 blockbuster The Greatest Showman, exhibited a similar specimen at his American Museum in New York before it burned down in 1865.
In Japan, some legends say mermaids grant immortality to anyone who tastes their flesh. At one temple in Asakuchi, the Fiji Mermaid was actually worshiped – although it was later discovered to be made of cloth, paper and cotton, decorated with fish scales and animal fur.
But in the US, such mermaids are a strange thing. “The Fijian Mermaid was part of the collection and spectacle of the late 1800s,” Fritz said.
Fritz added that the mummy likely dates to the 1870s, when records show the original donor had served in the US Navy. Dr Cress said the CT scan would make it possible to select ‘pieces’ of the artefact and hoped to find out whether any part of the artefact had ever been a real animal.
“By doing that, we get more data,” he said. The data will be sent to experts at the Cincinnati Zoo and Newport Aquarium to identify what creatures combine to form mermaids.
(wib)