A mermaid is a legendary aquatic creature with the upper body of a human female and the tail of a fish.Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures around the world, including the Middle East, Europe, Africa and Asia. The first articles were published in ancient Assyria, in which the goddess Atargatis becomes a mermaid shame for accidentally killing his human lover. Sirens are sometimes associated with hazardous events such as floods, storms, shipwrecks and drownings. In other lore (or sometimes in the same tradition), which may be benign or beneficial, granting favors or fall in love with the man.
The sirens are associated with the sirens of Greek mythology and Sirenia, a biological order including dugongs and manatees. Some historical observations of the sailors may have been misinterpreted meetings with these aquatic mammals. Columbus reported seeing mermaids, while exploring the Caribbean, and the results were published in the 20th and 21st centuries in Canada, Israel and Zimbabwe. The National Ocean Service of the U.S. declared in 2012 that there is no evidence of sirens was never found.
Mermaids have been a popular subject of art and literature over the centuries, as in the famous story by Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid" (1836). Subsequently, represented in operas, paintings, books, films and comics.