No Mermaid Body Found, NOAA Statement Clarifies; What Are The Arguments Behind The Fiction?

After being aired on Animal Planet in May, the two-hour long Mermaids: The Body Found, story enticed viewers once again Sunday night on the Discovery Channel. The documentary-style science fiction program has managed to garner a lot of attention and has convinced viewers to consider whether mermaids had ever existed.

As noted by Examiner, Mermaids: The Body Found was just a fictional account filmed in a documentary style detailing the discovery of the body of a mermaid. But many people reportedly misapprehended the program's intent and went on to believe that a mermaid had actually been discovered.

The program acknowledged that the content shown was science fiction. However, it did claim that it was based on some real events, which led to the confusion among viewers.

What if there's a kernel of truth behind the legend of this mythic creature? Is the idea of mermaids really so far-fetched? Maybe so, maybe not. The show itself, though science fiction, is based on some real events and scientific theory, Discovery said describing the show.

The Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) clarified the confusion, saying that no evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found. The agency put a statement on its website, in which it said that the very question of the existence of mermaids should be left to historians, philosophers, and anthropologists.

Fishnewseu.com reported that the NOAA has previously released statements regarding other unexplained phenomena such as the Lost City of Atlantis and the Bermuda Triangle.

The two-hour special aired on Animal Planet in May and admitted to using an actor to discover the body. The program aired first in Australia, where it was originally debunked, USA Today reported.

The Discovery Channel, however, put forth a number of convincing arguments in an effort to support the theory that mermaids could exist. Here's what the channel has to argue upon:

IF...

It's a fact that polar bears evolved from the brown bear, categorized now as full-fledged marine mammals...

THEN...

Is it possible that apes split off from terrestrial apes millions of years ago (due to coastal flooding) and retreated into the water, evolving into aquatic creatures somewhat related to humans?

IF...

Human babies instinctively hold their breath when placed under water before they walk - something baby primates can't do...

THEN...

Were humans ever capable of having an aquatic state?

IF...

Dolphins seem to have a unique kinship with humans and possess a learned trait of cooperatively hunting with humans...

THEN...

Is it possible dolphins learned to hunt with humans because they have a memory of cooperatively hunting with mermaids, a species that closely resembles us?

IF...

New species of whales (the largest sea mammals) have only been detected within the past two decades...

THEN...

Is it possible that we haven't discovered every creature and that if massive whales haven't been discovered until recently, it answers why we haven't been able to detect mermaids yet?

IF...

Ancient, disparate civilizations have described the mermaid without having any communication with other cultures...

THEN...

Isn't there a kernel of truth beneath the legend?

Mermaids: The Body Found was aired in May 2012 as part of Animal Planet's Monster Week series. The show, created and written by Charlie Foley, showed two scientists, who were given a photo of a mermaid body found on the beach taken by two boys on a camera phone in Washington State. They also used remains found inside a shark in South Africa to reconstruct a mermaid.

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