2.5.16
on August 4, 2025
at 3:00 am
this is such a minor nitpick but it always bothered me when mermaid tails bent forward-and-backward like human legs with knees. fish mobility is all sideways. it’s all in vert mode. anyway
Aurora
A fantasy webcomic. Updates M-W-F.
There are however animals like whales who do have up and down movement going on, and I think mermaids would be a decent comparison to fishy mammals
I was thinking something similar. Logically, a merperson is probably going to have a similar spinal flexing arrangement to a human, which is better at flexing up and down than side to side. So a merperson would theoretically be more like a whale or dolphin than a fish. That said, it would also be possible to have a merperson that flexes side to side, and the tailfin should be appropriately aligned either way.
From seeing these merfolk in different poses, they seem to move more like an eel/sea snake, ie sort of in all direction. Snakes are actually a good example: whether aquatic or otherwise, they generally move side to side but they can and will bend their spines the other way (ever seen a snake periscope?) So they may bend their upper body and even tail on the ‘mammalian’ way when stationary/just floating around, while moving from side to side may be their optimal way of swimming fast!
For them to be able to breath underwater, they *have* to be fish. Or turtles — but you dont want to know how turtles breath underwater. Mammalian merfolk would need to go to the surface to breath.
It’s all in the cloaca. Therein lie the secrets. 😀
😆
Wait, what? That’s so cool, I didn’t know turtles could breathe underwater:D The real world is strange.
They can’t do it very well, and its mostly just to supplement air-breathing and extend the time that they can spend underwater, but yes, they can indeed absorb (some) oxygen from the water! Its… through the other end though.
Technically, mammals are fish.
Yeah that seems weird, but consider that mammals are descended from reptiles, which are descended from amphibian, which are descended from fish. So you end up having to go through weird semantics like defining fish as “vertebrates that are not tetrapods”, which is kind of like saying your family doesn’t include Weird Uncle Steve. Yeah, we’re the Weird Uncle Steve of fishes in that analogy.
Yes, i absolutely love that fact!!
For classification purposes, I think “vertebrates that are not tetrapods” is a perfectly valid definition. Vertebrates and tetrapods are both precisely defined clades. Yes, mammals are more closely related to bony fish than bony fish are to sharks, but some groups represent such a significant change from the rest of the clade that there’s value on cleaving that particular group off and assigning a suitable name to everything else in the clade. It’s possible for a group to be defined in a manner that isn’t purely based on sharing a latest common ancestor, especially in common language.
I think the current prejudice against paraphyletic groups is doing more to hurt the precision of taxonomic classification than it helps.
We’ve seen that gaining gills by magic is definitely a thing in this world, but having a spine that primarily flexes up/down partway and side-side the rest of the way is probably awkward regardless.
Yeah there’s a reason stuff like Manatees and Belugas are the animals that get claimed to be real life inspirations for Mermaid stories and not any sort of fish
Holy shit, Thag Simmons? In the lecture they said you were dead!
What always bothered me about “conventional” mermaids, is that they are usually designed with up and down moving tails that look like fish and not like sea mammal tails. I just always struck me as a little weird, like, where would the spine be? On the side? (Yeah I I know, questioning the logic of fantasy, bla, bla, bla.) But I still think Red’s design choice is “better”. +The breathing thing, although that opens some intriguing possibilities for sea mammal like mermaids who need to breathe at the surface once in a while.
Also: You all seem to refer to Selach with she/her pronouns. Were their pronouns given at any point and I didn’t notice (probable) or is that just guessing?
Red has explained that Merfolk, being a Younger Race, don’t really have a concept of gender as we do. It’s generally accepted by the Elder Races to call them all by she/they, but the merfolk don’t really care either way. If you want to call Selach ‘he’, I guess there’s no problem with that.
Thanks:)
You’re welcome! 😄
Red explicitly called Selach “she” in her first appearance, I believe in the alt-text, making a joke about accents
Yes, which is why we call her ‘she’. As I’ve said though, she has also explained on tumblr that that has more to do with tradition than Selach’s personal preference.
From a Doilist prosective its kind of nessisary for it to work that way, as many pivotal mermaid entertainments are enacted by people. Even multi media franchise often keep it that way, sometime for the safe of the children attempting to lern to swim by watching mermaids on tv. Other times for the practicalities of it being impossible for a human actor to bend there legs sideways like there made of snake.
bend their legs sideways as if they’re made like a snake.
Reflex, the literal concept of life just taking over when you sleep, who can say, really
Most reflexes are both, when you abstract it out a level. Life taking over when you’re not quick or consciously in control enough to save yourself.
That’s always bothered me too!
I once drew a two mermaids, one with a dolphin tail bending backwards and the other with a fish tail that went side to side
Alinua’s face in that penultimate panel is just… *mwah*
YESS, FISH TAILS THAT MOVE LIKE YOUR AVRAGE FISH, thank you for this detail, it made my autism very happy.
It’s nice that Alinua gets to vent a little about her predicament. It feels somewhat like her conversation with Erin back in Ch.11, coming to terms with Life’s interventions.
Also, protect Selach, she’s too wholesome. I don’t want her to get eaten by the chimeras or the Wyrm.
Ooooh! So it’s seems that this page is suggesting/confirming(?) the theory that it was not in fact Life who did this to Alinua, but some sort of automated response (although its still Life’s fault that Alinua’s like that. Well done to the people who thought that 👍
It seems to me that Alinua may have thought that Life *had* done it, though. Her reaction to the idea that she didn’t isn’t exactly clear but it almost seems like… she might be more comfortable with it being something that she did unconsciously? Which I can understand. Even if its strange and uncomfortable its something that she did, albeit automatically, rather than some eldritch being messing with her.
I love the mermaids’ tails moving from side to side like that, i hadn’t even thought of it but it makes so much sense. Kudos to Red!
The underwater scenery is really simple, but I think it looks gorgeous! The simplicity helps communicate the darkness and murky-ness. And i love the bioluminescent creatures 😍 Also loving Alinua’s green eyes.
P.S. anyone here watched kpop demon hunters?
yes I have watched kpop demon hunters! I think there are some problems with it, and it would’ve benifited from being longer, but overall I really like it.
What’s your top 3 songs? Mine are Your Idol in 1st, What it Sounds Like, and then Golden.
Also there’s this youtuber, Danny Phantom, who did a music video of Your Idol in cosplay and everything it’s AMAZING if you didn’t know about it
I agree! My favourites are Your Idol, Golden and How It’s Done, in no particular order. I also really love the tiger and cat 😀
Yesss I loved the tiger and bird
“I made the hat for the tiger, but the bird keeps taking it”
And then the tiger has that obsession with not knocking things over, and the bird’s just so done with it
I love how… disappointed and annoyed he sounds when he says that xD
With regard to merfolk, if one assumes their upper body has similar musculature and flexibility to the human body it looks like, the up-down motion fits better, actually. Stronger with greater range of movement. This is why cetaceans have up-down tails, because when their ancestors returned to the water, they already had the movement range for that.
The shape matters too and the upper body being flatter in that direction would also lend itself to being more hydrodynamic.
Now, evolution won’t necessarily create these traits in the most optimal way, so which it ends up being depends a lot on context specificity regarding the merfolk in question.
Are those glowing barnacles? Theyre probably just coral/sponge but i really want them to be barnacles
There’s that drawing Red showed us on Tumblr in panel 2!
And there it is! The Out Of Context Storyboard from tumblr!
I love the idea that Alinua has options for her physical preservation at the unconscious, basal-cell level. I does make sense that Life has been improving as she created vessels, as prior ones kept breaking.
I also like the side-to-side swimming of the mer!
I think Life didn’t give Alinua a tail because She wanted her to make some new friends.
But the reason fish tails move side to side is because their muscles run along the sides. For mammals, the relevant muscles would be along the back and along the stomach. Thus, front to back tail movement. And everyone would have significant abs
For some weird reason no comments are loading for me 🙁
Its been like 2 hours since the page was posted
Theyre here now!
Sorry princess carry fans, but this arrangement is more hydrodynamic.
Yeah, unless your mermaids are going the route of dolphins and the like, side-to-side is the way they should swim. Though I wonder how their spines work with that motion in the bottom and their torsos like a human; people go on about how centaur spines are f**ked, what about these? (idk I’m no back expert)
Alinua didn’t even consider the possibility her transformation was instinctual and just assumed it was Life; despite their “conversation” and greater understanding, Ali’s tension with her is still there. It does make more sense that the change was instinctual, given how “feely” Alinua practices her magic and that she was conscious during the eyes and ears adaption. (also I’m fairly sure Alinua has self-healed while unconscious without Life before)
Good on Selach for suggesting that; she’s helped Alinua more than she realises.
Yes, ladies, gents and executive non-binaries, here come the mermaids from this fictional universe, and that means it’s time to play FLUKES! OR! FINS!
Pff I love Alinua’s face in Panel Two.
Yaaay, Selach is a friend! (in the making) I like the way these two interact. I like the way the tail moves, too, and the dark, watery depths paired with the luminous life-forms in this page.
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: “this… change, it’s got a lot of elements beyond the eyes and ears that fortunately don’t have any sort of complex visual representation”
Image source: reflex
tumblr text: down we go!
Bluesky text: deep thoughts
. Selach swims straight down into the depths, Alinua on her back, the elf’s arms wrapped around her neck.
. “Comfortable?” Selach asks, tail swishing from side-to-side.
. “Mmngh,” Alinua grumbles, squinting. “I’m still not used to water in my eyes.”
. “Don’t worry, it’s not much farther,” Selach says as she swims through the chasm. “And you’re handling the pressure well. We’re almost twice as deep as the basecamp.”
. “I was wondering about that,” Alinua says, looking a bit unsettled. “This… change, it’s deeper than just the gills. The temperature, the pressure — even being able to hear and see down here is a serious transformation.”
. “Have you ever done anything like this before?”
. “I didn’t do this! I was unconscious when this happened!” Alinua exclaims. “And I’ve NEVER done anything like this before! I’ve only healed, and– and shaped plants! I don’t even think I know HOW to do it!”
. “Huh. Then maybe it’s like a reflex?”
. Alinua pauses, blinking. “Huh,” she says slowly. “Maybe it is.”
It was my birthday yesterday! I got a bunch of books so I’m happy about that
Happy birthday! Have a good read:) (is that an expression?)
Happy birthday, enjoy ur books (ps get any discworld?)!
Happy birthday! (Sorry if there are two comments, my first try didn’t seem to appear)
Happy Belated Birthday!
Happy birthday!!
Happy even more belated birthday!
The faces in this chapter are exquisite. Red, you did a really good job with expressions!
Remind anyone else of playing Zora’s Domain in Breath of the Wild?
Re: mermaid tail orientation…one of my favorite roleplaying game world settings is Glorantha. There, the merfolk come in two distinct populations. One group’s tails move side-to-side (like fish) and the other group’s move up-and-down (like cetaceans). The two populations historically have fought a lot.
I wish I could put my arms around a mer-twink like that :3
Anyone else reminded of playing through Zora’s Domain in Breath of the Wild?
Best Quality: their wiggles
i once saw a really fascinating hypothetical mermaid that was designed basically like an altered human, where the legs became extremely short and the feet turned into flippers/fins up by the hip, and the tail was an extension of the spinal column. which like, that’s what a tail always is, of course, but the addition of the flippers made out of feet just made it feel so unique and realistic!
Thats how seals tails work!
Seals don’t have actual long tails separate from the flippers, though. This sounds closer to say, a mosasaur.
Oh dear 😅 I totally misread it. Yes, much closer to mosasaurs! I’ve actaully considered that for merfolk of my own in the past!
It’s always scary when the biokinetic realizes she can do more than heal boo-boos. Hopefully Alinua won’t have a crashout like Amelia Dallon’s…
As for mermaid tails, orientation doesn’t bother me. What bothers me is when the tails bend exactly like human legs in a mermaid costume. Like, I know human legs in mermaid costumes are gonna dominate mermaid reference photos, but they shouldn’t look like that!
I agree wholeheartedly! I think a lot of people here, including Red herself, are way too pedantic about how a mermaid “should” swim. Especially in this case since these Merfolk are literally created beings. The only reason X sea creature swims in X manner is because of X coincidence of X evolutionary history (which I guess is just the imagination of the Twins in this case). It could be literally anything depending on how the world is built, other than the human knees abomination.
I can’t speak for others, but on my part it was just a bit of fun! Especially in a world like this, where creatures dont have common ancestors, it doesnt matter all that much. What it matters more for, in my opinion, is the *vibe*. Fish tails go from side to side, so if you want your mermaid to look fish-like, making their tail work that way may help with that. If it moves differently, it doesnt make them a less legitimate mermaid design, but it may take away from the fish aesthetic.
Ohhhh…that makes sense…
I also realized upon coming back to this page that Selach might not be moving at TOP speed, because that could make it very easy for Alinua to fall off. I also think that these merfolk in particular aren’t limited to one way of swimming, as I think Starshadow Melody suggested (sorry if I misunderstood what you were saying, Starshadow Melody). Although I think you’re right, AsTheLightFades; that the swimming of these merfolk is *usually* akin to an eel. I kinda wanna bring in a marine biologist and see what they think lol
I see no reason to limit mermaids to one axis of tail movement.
I understand what you mean, but this just made me think of rotary blade mermaid tails
@ TheScarletteWitch: “rotary blade mermaid tails” sounds really interesting but I have no idea what it would entail. Are you able to further elaborate on what rotary blade mermaid tails would entail?
TL;DR: Sorry pal, I am not as qualified as you think I am.
Mermaid tails moving up and down would make sense if they had an aquatic mammal tail
I cannot express enough just how much I love these mermaid designs (and how they move).
One of the benefits of not reading this for 6 years is the dearth of content. The bad thing is now that I caught up I have to wait.
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: “This… Change, it’s got a lot of elements beyond the eyes and fortunately don’t have any sort of complex visual representation”
Image source: reflex
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Hi! Didn’t see anyone else posting this today so decided to do it myself 😛
very appreciating the mermaid deTAILS, the knee-motion has always bothered me as well. And why they all got dolphin/whale horizontal tails when most things in the ocean have vertical tails?? Thank you for this
If Alinua’s shape shifting is like a reflex then I sure hope she can reflexively get back onto land without a problem! It’s what’s bugging me the most.
Based on the up-down motion of mermaid tails in most stuff, that would make them marine mammals. Marine mammals actually retain the up-down based motion that land creatures have. And that does line up with the front half of the mermaid having, y’know, hair and other mammal bits. The lack of need to surface and breathe would imply considerable evolutionary development in the respiratory system though – back to something more gill-like, probably.
Ali takes the shit of depth remarkably well
Was the magic a reflex? Who can tell?
Interesting to use the word “reflex”, just like Dainix’s ability to transmute Void into Light. If Alinua learns how to do this on purpose too she has to possibility of giving herself claws and wings and armor plates, turning this healing ability into the most op nonsense possible. I wonder if thats how it actually works.
Mermaids usually move the same way whale and dolphins do because they are assumed to come from mammals. Mammal spines don’t move much laterally, the preferred motion is dorsal and ventral. The change happened sometime during the evolution of mammals, starting around the time the therapsids appeared. Everything from the other side of the amniote split and before uses lateral motion instead, except for the dinosaur linage.