A bizarre creature displayed in the 19th century, known as the Feejee Mermaid, was not a genuine biological anomaly but rather a fabricated hoax, according to scientists. This specimen, which sparked global fascination and was promoted as evidence of mermaids and even a potential missing link between humans and aquatic animals, was actually a composite of a monkey's torso and a fish's tail.
Jack Daly, a lecturer in writing and rhetoric at the University of Colorado Boulder, explained that the Feejee Mermaid was a carefully constructed deception. "The Feejee Mermaid, as it blended human and animal characteristics, folklore and science, spectacle and empiricism, displays how a monstrous hoax inspired fierce intellectual debates in 19th-century America," Daly wrote on The Conversation.
The creature was first brought to the United States in the 1800s by showman P. T. Barnum, who presented it as "The Greatest Curiosity in the World" at his American Museum. Barnum described the specimen as "an ugly dried-up, black-looking diminutive specimen, about three feet long - its mouth was open, its tail turned over, and its arms thrown up, giving it the appearance of having died in great agony."
Despite its unsettling appearance, the fake mermaid became a sensation. Showmen capitalized on public interest in exotic discoveries and unexplored regions, marketing the creature as an authentic find from distant oceans. At a time when scientific understanding of evolution was rapidly developing, many visitors were open to extraordinary claims about natural history.
Modern scientific examination has confirmed that the Feejee Mermaid is an artificial creation made from the remains of different animals. Scans of a separate Feejee Mermaid specimen previously revealed it to be a combination of fish, monkey, and reptile parts. "Feejee Mermaids, as displayed in America, are characteristic of a 'sideshow gaff' that interested Victorian audiences due to debates about evolution and science," Daly concluded.