Mermaid Monday: Meghalaya Mermaid Found in India?

blackwhitesketchWe’ve got a whale of a “tail” on today’s Mermaid Monday! It’s a cryptozoology report complete with unidentified monster. Did locals find a dead mermaid washed up on shore in Ranikor, Meghalaya, India? Or was it something else? CryptoVille investigates!

This story first circulated in 2012 but I’ve only recently seen it. I actually found it because someone was searching for the “Meghalaya mermaid” on this website. I was curious and had to see what I could find.

What I found is a story that almost doesn’t bear repeating because it’s so outlandish. Let’s take a look.

It seems that one day in 2012 the creature in the following video washed ashore on the banks of the Ranikor River in India. The local Muslim population immediately decided it was something supernatural and treated it accordingly.  They claimed it was a dead mermaid.

Here’s the video I first saw, one minute long:

Some of you will say the answer is painfully obvious and I would agree with you, except for the fact there are people still searching CryptoVille for the information.

So to prove to people that this “creature” is nothing more than a dead stingray from the underside, let’s look at some other photos of dead stingrays (various species):

Stingrays01

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Southern Stingray Closeup of mouth

 

Stingrays03

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anatomy Photo

The stingray’s anatomy:

StingrayAnatomy

Note the two nostrils on the top, under which is a inter-nasal flap. Under that flap is the mouth which is pretty much just a slit. Below that, you find the gills on either side of the underside.

After the animal dies and begins to decompose, these features become more exaggerated. They do sort of form a “face”, but it’s just part of the decomposition process.

So without a doubt, the “creature” in this video is not a mermaid. It is a species of stingray, dead and decaying.

I really have to wonder how people confuse one of these ….

Mermaid07

With  that ….

MermaidMegdahlayaIndia

 

How drunk does one have to be?! (Maybe I’m being too harsh; it could just be a lack of education. Well, at least now they’ll know the truth.)

See you next Monday when we return with another strange tale from the deep!

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