My other half has just come up behind me while I was looking at a pic of mermaids. He wants to know and I quote "how do mermaids pee and poo?" Does anyone have good answer for him.

Maybe they should make a seperate forum for that question....

heyas; you can refer him to a book on fish. or buy him a guppy. then he can, er, watch. fish generally have one simple orifice for excretia, rather small, and not very fancy like some mammals.

Way I've heard it is "they have certain scales that sort of lift up", that is how they mate, too (else where do little mermaids come from?) ;-) Next question is- why do they have scales, dolpins and whales don't...

Yes even I can see they would have that problem. I sympathise, I hate wearing shoes anyway, and I've got feet.

geee, I just ran down to shore and asked one, man she WACKED me upside the head! Then just swam off. Guess we'll never know...

Well, I'm not sure about Jim's lovely mermaids, but mine... well the next ones will have... er... plumbing.

Jim Dolphins and whales don't have scales because they aren't fish, they are mammals. In the Egyptian desert there are prehistoric whales with feet! They have to lift their young to the surface to breathe, whereas fish breathe water just fine. If merfolk were related to other mammals such as dolphins, they would have that coloration AND be able to mate. If they are fishy, they'd have the glorious scales, but would lay eggs and wait for the male to fertilize them. I hope that I've saved a guppy from an untimely death. Carolly

Actually Carolly, I belive Merfolk are 1/2 mammal and 1/2 fish. But for young.....maybe they are like seahorse? And the males carry the young in a consealed pouch?? I only suggest this as I have never seen a Mermaid with 'strech-marks'...... Ah yes Dcort, Naga and Echidna demonstrate correct proportions (er, body assembley) of the magnificant Mythical (yet real) creatures :-)

I rather like the idea of the males carrying the young around. It would explain why mermaids are never bulky in the midsection, or droopy of breast, and have so much time for preening on rocks. :) Carolly

When I was doing my mermaids I couldn't figure out how they should be - the smooth skinned grey colored dolphin's tail would seem to be more logical, but they are defined as "half fish", which is why they are mostly shown with scales, too, I guess. So I finally decided to cover all the options - scale or scaleless, dolphin's tail or fish tail, vertical or horizontal tail actions (that's another thing!), shark tail, goldfish tail, tails-to-be-named-at-a-later-date! One combination or the other must match real mermaids!

Actually Jim, they are All right! Common' there is more than one ethnic background for mer-people just like there are for us land-stricken creatures. The only reason you see most as half-fish is because only a few artists have yet investigated these magnificant creatures. I forget who, but Poser has an Excellent example of a half-shark 'mermaid'. Heck even the cartoon "little mermaid' has shown us that there are half-octopus' too. Just open the mind and let the magic lead us....