[Animals] Away from the myths.. The mermaid is real, but it is endangered

[SnO]

Many are mythical animals that are considered a figment of the popular imagination, such as the dragon and the phoenix, around which many fairy tales have been woven, and for thousands of years they have remained stuck in the minds as mere myths that are sweet to talk about with young people or based on scenarios for fantasy films.

 

 

However, the mermaid is, in fact, a reality mixed with the imagination of the seagoers, and it is not, as popular imagination portrays it, half a fish and half a woman, but a marine mammal, similar in many of its characteristics to humans.

Naming secret
Dr. Ahmed Shawky, an expert in marine biology, said during a scientific symposium that he conducted online on October 3 about the mermaid, that the ancient fishermen apparently were behind this name because they saw in this animal a great similarity. In a lot of human qualities.

He added, "The mermaid is considered one of the marine animals that ascend a lot to the surface of the water to supply air, and when it floats on the surface of the water, the fishermen look like human looks, which is probably what prompted them to call it the bride."

In addition, they used to watch her while she was next to her little child, holding him as a person does, in addition to having a chin and facial features that are very similar to the features of a human face, which is what made them call her this name.

However, there is another reason mentioned by the late Dr. Hamed Gohar, a professor of marine biology and founder of the Institute of Marine Sciences in Hurghada on the Red Sea coast in Egypt. He saw in the face of the mermaid a resemblance to a veiled Muslim woman, which he mentioned in his research in 1945, as confirmed by Ahmed. Shawky at the seminar.

The Egyptian Dr. Hamid Gohar is the first to discover the presence of the mermaid in the bays of Egypt overlooking the Red Sea, and he was able to catch the first mermaid for scientific study purposes in November 1942. As for the inhabitants of the Red Sea, they liked to call this animal a camel or a cow. The sea because his body is hoarded with flesh.

Scientific designation
The mermaid falls under the scientific name "Dugong", and it is from the family "Dugongidae" belonging to the family "Sirenia". It is a herbivorous marine mammal and is classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as an endangered animal, according to what was stated in the Wikipedia encyclopedia.

The average length of the mermaid is from 3 to 3.5 meters, and it rarely reaches 4 meters, as a bride of this length was seen once in the waters of India, according to Ahmed Shawky.

The mermaid can reach a weight of 500 kg, and it has a strong tail, and two hands that help it swim and get out to the surface of the water, and it has a mouth equipped with a strainer that helps to get rid of plankton while eating grass. As for the nose, it is protected by bolts that do not open except when ascending to the surface to provide oxygen during a process that does not exceed two or three seconds, to be closed after that.

The mermaid can also travel a distance of a thousand kilometers, and she lives to the age of 73 years, which is the average human life, but she is slow to reproduce, as the female can only give birth to one baby every 7 years, knowing that the pregnancy period ranges between 13 and 15 months. The length of the infant at birth is about one meter, while the breastfeeding period reaches a year and a half.

Mermaids play a major role in maintaining the balance of the marine environment, by turning the soil at the bottom while eating food, and their droppings help fertilize them, and contribute to the pollination process while they are on the move, and thus they control the growth of types of seaweed.

The Arabian Gulf.. the second largest agglomeration
The mermaid lives in many regions of the world, as we find it in northern Australia, southeast Asia, western India, the Arabian Gulf and the Red Sea region, and eastern Africa.

Ahmed Shawky says that her presence in northern Australia is considered one of the largest gatherings in the world, as scientists previously counted the presence of about 100,000 brides, but today there are only 70,000, as their number has declined because of their falling victim to the nets that are set up on the beaches for protection. of sharks.

The Arabian Gulf region is considered the second largest gathering of mermaids in the world, with about 8 thousand brides, and it is spread in the waters of Qatar, Bahrain and the Emirates.

It is noticeable, according to experts in the marine environment, that mermaids walk in groups, except in the Arabian Gulf, as they are often found alone.

In Egypt, the mermaid spreads in about 95 sites on the Red Sea coast, and all of them need to be constantly updated and surveyed, says Ahmed Shawky.

Several risks
Mermaids face many dangers that have made them one of the endangered species, including what is natural and what is human-made, such as overfishing, collisions with fishing boats, or accidentally falling into nets that are set up to protect against sharks, as in Australia, for example.

Ahmed Shawky explained that overfishing is one of the biggest problems that threatens the mermaid with extinction, as some fishermen deliberately hunt it for the purpose of eating or to benefit from its 3-centimeter-thick skin or to use its oils.

Mermaids face many dangers that have made them an endangered species (Pixaby)
According to Ahmed Shawky, the mermaid's skin is very strong and is used in the manufacture of many clothes or tools and was even used in the manufacture of protective shields during wars.

Also among the risks that threaten mermaid gatherings is the destruction of their natural habitats as a result of digging or filling by humans, as well as the increase in the number of visitors from tourists to the areas where the mermaid lives, as this affects their behavior and forces them to migrate.

 

https://www.aljazeera.net/science/2020/10/8/بعيدا-عن-الأساطير-عروس-البحر-حقيقة