A group of Japanese scientists has recently started working on the 300-year-old mummified mermaid found in the Pacific Ocean between 1736 and 1741.
After a long time, the specialists from Japan have started research work on the old mermaid skull consisting of a strangely human face and a tale at the lower part of the body.
The characteristics of the mummified mermaid have left the scientists totally confused. Its upper body unnaturally and mysteriously looks like a human being but the lower part of the body has the characteristics of fish.
The strange creature recovered from the Japanese island of Shikoku is said to be 12 inches in height. It has sharp teeth, forehead hairs, a human-like skull, the twisted or painful expression on the face, hands and fingers
Half of the middle part of the body is covered with scales and the ending part looks like getting thinner and consists of a tale. It is seen touching the ears with both hands.
At present, the mermaid skull with a human face is kept at a temple in Asakuchi located in Okayama Prefecture of Japan.
According to Japanese media reports, the mummy-shaped similar to the mermaid skull was recently found preserved inside a box of the temple along with a note with it.
In the note, it was explained how the mermaid was brought from the river and was preserved. According to the letter, the mermaid was caught at the time of fishing in the Pacific Ocean as it was captured by fishermen in a fishing net in the water off Kochi Prefecture.
According to different stories, the mummified mermaid was preserved by one family and then passed on to another. It was then finally brought to the shrine in Asakuchi and kept at the temple room till now.
To unveil the mystery associated with the mummy-shaped mermaid, the researchers from the Kurashiki University of Science, Japan have decided to accept funds for CT scanning.
Hiroshi Kinoshita of the Okayama folklore society stated that Japanese mermaids have immortality and it is said according to Yao Bikuni mythology if someone eats mermaid flesh, they never die.
In one such incident, a Japanese woman once ate the flesh of a mermaid by mistake and she lived for 800 years most notably this mythology is also kept at the shrine where the mermaid was preserved.
Also watch: