Field Reports: Mermaids Across the World

May 22, 2010

I am currently doing very extensive research in Belize on the mermaids in the Blue Holes. It is very hard work, providing I have to ship in crates of gillweed to be able to breathe underwater. The Blue Holes connoiseur suggested that I should learn to scuba dive, but I plainly refused, claiming that magic can do anything except raise the fallen. I found very interesting remains in the first Blue Hole I visited, Azafrec. Villagers nearby claimed to have occasionally spotted a blue or black fishtail break the water's surface. Upon entering the hole, I came upon a great number of decayed goat skeletons and bones, and the occasional crocodile jaw. As I dived deeper, and the level of oxygen became almost nonexistent, I came upon the perfectly preserved and intact skeleton of a female mermaid. I collected a few samples, then surfaced. Upon further research, I discovered that the remains of the goats in the hole were due to a great many sacrifices made to mermaids, during the Kalokaon civilization, when mermaids were revered as water godesses, to please them. Apparently the villagers thought the mermaids the cause of the seasonal monsoons that wiped out their taro crops without mercy. That mystery solved, I turned to the mermaid skeleton. Upon close observation, I deduced that due to the absence of any abnormal fissures, marks on the bones, or any sort of abnormality not often seen on the skeleton of a mermaid, the mermaid had not died of any wound. Nor had it any symptoms of any known disease. Nor had the mermaid died of old age, for with a quick test to identify her bone age, we thought her to be in her 3rd mermaid year (22nd human year), therefore very young. Upon diving in the blue hole once more, I found a great many other mermaid skeletons, both male and female, that attained the same mystery. Still racking my brains for what possibly had been the cause of death, I decided to dive at another blue hole by the name of Zoguri, only a couple miles away from Azafrec. However, meantime, I am still doing considerable lab work on the mermaid skeletons and the goat remains.

-Djinn