The Sirens of the Sea

[CCoburn]

The Sirens of the Sea


I've been wondering a little lately about whether or not these could be a real thing. I've seen some interesting videos that make you wonder, but you know how it is with video and authenticity these days.

Most of the planet is water, so I'm thinking they could be fairly proficient at avoiding detection if that was their intention.

Would they breathe with ocean lungs similar to their earthly counterparts, gills, or both?

It is said that the singing of the sirens lures sailors to their doom. I wonder if there is any truth to this phenomenon.

[Tinkerpeach]

[Byrd]

The Sirens of the Sea


I've been wondering a little lately about whether or not these could be a real thing. I've seen some interesting videos that make you wonder, but you know how it is with video and authenticity these days.

Most of the planet is water, so I'm thinking they could be fairly proficient at avoiding detection if that was their intention.

Would they breathe with ocean lungs similar to their earthly counterparts, gills, or both?

It is said that the singing of the sirens lures sailors to their doom. I wonder if there is any truth to this phenomenon.

Mythical.

The "breathing" bit would be problematic, along with singing.

Mammals that live in the sea are champion breath-holders; anything that's warm-blooded would have lungs, and you need lungs to sing.  You can make noises if you don't have lungs, but you're not going to sing like a canary.

Lungs and gills take up the same space in the body... if you look at any mammal anatomy, you will see that there's not a lot of room for anything else.  If you elongate the body (double the torso) you get a weirdly out of balance creature.

Lungs would imply that they would live on land for some period of time (like go there to have babies or some such)

As to the singing, there's no reason to develop that.  Unlike sharks, we don't hunt by sound and the wail of a dying edible creature isn't an irresistible sound to us.

[Nerb]

Mammals that live in the sea are champion breath-holders; anything that's warm-blooded would have lungs, and you need lungs to sing.  You can make noises if you don't have lungs, but you're not going to sing like a canary.

Whales sing beautifully.

[IdeomotorPrisoner]

I loved The Odessy.  My favorite required high school reading.  So so much better than Dostoyevsky. Crime and Punishment's greatest irony was it made you feel the torture of the main character. 

On Sirens.  If prostitution is the world's oldest profession, then "peeling a trick" must be equally as old. 

And here's my favorite adaptation of Sirens in film from one of my favorite movies.

[BeyondKnowledge]

Sirens are not mermaids. Sirens are more closely related to harpies.

Sirens would lure ships onto the rocks of a treacherous shoreline useing their songs. Mermaids would lure individual sailers into the sea sometimes with songs but mostly with their looks.

I was going to post a link to mernetwork but they seem to have disappeared after a bot attack a few  years ago.

I have known several mermaids and made some tails myself.

[Byrd]

Whales sing beautifully.

True, but they're huge and they have lungs and don't sing in the air.

[UltraBudgie]

True, but they're huge and they have lungs and don't sing in the air.

Huh that makes me wonder if the wooden sides of a ship could act as a resonance chamber and amplify underwater sounds from whales, geothermal activity, aliens, etc.

Hmm.

[Nerb]

Sirens would lure ships onto the rocks of a treacherous shoreline useing their songs. Mermaids would lure individual sailers into the sea sometimes with songs but mostly with their looks.

I was going to post a link to mernetwork but they seem to have disappeared after a bot attack a few  years ago.

I thought Mermaids saved drowning sailors?

And shouldn't the mermetwork line read "boat" attack?

[BeyondKnowledge]

I thought Mermaids saved drowning sailors?

And shouldn't the mermetwork line read "boat" attack?

You are thinking of the modern stories of mermaids. Historically, during the times of the sirens, they led sailors to their death.

Modern mermaid are much nicer, for the most part. You can still run into an evil mermaid story from time to time.