Mermen – A Forgotten Legend

When one hears the word “mermaid” you automatically think of beautiful females swimming gracefully amongst the waves with long flowing hair wearing gorgeous mermaid tails and mermaid tops.  Sometimes we forget that in addition to the romantic mermaid legends there are just as many fables about mermen.

Different stories you read contain contradictive information about their demeanour.   Some have them to be warm-hearted whilst others claim they were unattractive and mean spirited.

It was in Western Europe where the legend of the merman was strong in decades gone. Ireland folk called merpeople “merrows” who were thought to be both good and bad depending upon the thoughts of the tales authors.  Repeated stories throughout the Dark Ages described the male merrows as being hideous horrible creatures whilst the female merrows were kind and attractive.

Legends also have mermen to be ancient gods.   A famous god known to all mermaid lovers from the book “The Little Mermaid” was the father of Ariel, King Triton.  Triton was an ancient Greek god of the sea and he was the son of gods Poseidon and Amphitrite.  He was depicted as half-man-half-fish with long hair and acknowledged to have caused great storms of the sea.

Another god of the sea and fellow merman was “Glaucus”.  Legend has it that he ate a magical herb that led him into the transformation to a sea god.  He was said to be the confidant of the sea and guardian of sailors.

Mermen are not just a thing of the past there has been a big increase in the number of men who have recently started dressing up as mermen.  Some see it as a way of expressing their love for the sea and others have made it their profession working as resort entertainers or models, all of whom have large social media followings.

There are many exclusively designed products on the market including mermaid tails and other merchandise for mermen or merboys.

One company in particular Planet Mermaid has a dedicated line for merboys called Planet Shark.  This collection sees boy’s mermaid tails, monofins, t-shirts and shark leggings designed exclusively for merboys.





Now the boys can chase the mermaids as a shark complete with a shark fin and cool tail!! Watch out mermaids the merboys are coming to get you!

Visit www.planetmermaid.com to view our latest in amazing mermaid and shark tails for kids and adults alike!

Keep mermaiding and sharking