Mermaids are aquatic creatures with the head and torso of a beautiful young woman and the lower body of a fish. She can be found in seas and lakes and are often portrayed laying on a rock and combing her hair with one hand while also holding a mirror. Mermaids are sometimes known to predict the future and are often accompanied by seals.
According to myth, mermaids lure sailors by singing enchanting songs and making spellbinding music. They live in a kingdom on the bottom of the sea, and keep their prisoners locked away here. Because of this myth, sailors began to fear mermaids and they began to believe that seeing a mermaid would bring bad luck or was a prediction of death by drowning.
The belief in mermaids or similar creatures can be found across the globe. Tales exist from all over the world, including, for example, India which has stories of the Apsara, beautiful water nymphs. However, most of those tales were spread around the world because sailors would tell about occasions when they had seen mermaids on their long journeys. The primary myth of mermaids and mermen the male equivalent of mermaids can be traced back to Greek and Babylonian mythology. The Greeks shared tales of Sirens and Tritons, while the Babylonians had beliefs in fish gods, who were half fish and half human.