Half human, half fish: Scientists investigate mysteries of 300-year-old ‘Mermaid Mummy’ in groundbreaking discovery!

A mummified creature is believed to have been captured from the sea between 1736 and 1741. Scientists will now study its origin.

A puzzling mummified creature with a face resembling a human, but with a long, fish-like tail, is being investigated by Japanese scientists. The creature, preserved in a temple in the city of Asakuchi, Okayama Prefecture, on the island of Honshu, Japan, is said to have been captured from the Pacific Ocean near the island of Shikoku about 300 years ago.

Shaped like a mermaid, the creature is just 12 inches tall. It appears to have hair, teeth, nails, and a scaly lower body.

According to the Asahi Shimbun, a prominent Japanese news outlet, the mermaid mummy appeared inside a box. It came with a note saying that the creature was captured at sea between 1736 and 1741. Kept by families for generations, it was eventually handed over to the temple, where it has remained for more than 40 years.

What scientists are exploring is whether they can trace the creature’s origins to understand what kind of species it really belongs to. The mummy is undergoing CT scan studies at the veterinary hospital of Kurashiki University of Science and Arts.

The creature came to light when Hiroshi Kinoshita of the Okayama Folklore Society discovered it while working in the studios of Kiyoaki Sato, a Japanese naturalist who researched mysterious creatures like this one.

Local belief includes claims that tasting the mummy’s flesh can grant immortality. Kinoshita told an American news outlet that “Japanese mermaids have a legend of immortality. It is said that if you eat the flesh of a mermaid, you will never die.”

One theory about its origin suggests it could be a hoax and the creature may have been a display item intended for export to Europe, DNA’s sister organisation WION reported. The scientists’ findings are expected to be published later this year.