My mermaid can kick your mermaid's ass ... fin

If there were such things as mermaids, do you really think they'd look like Barbies with tail fins?

I don't.

I think their skin would be a rich emerald green--necessary camouflage in the murky depths. Their scaled half would be amphibious and strange, with pearly crevices and an algae-like fin.

Do you think they'd have long, flowing blonde hair?

I don't.

I think they'd be born bald, and their "hair" would eventually accumulate by adulthood--a tangle of seaweed and string, fishing poles and tentacles, horn-like coral and barnacles encrusted to their scalps, and an old brooch or two found at the bottom of the sea.

Terrifying and beautiful, my mermaids would wear schools of fish like skirts.

They'd swim with sharks.

And even in the darkest, deepest sea depths, they'd glow.

Credits/Notes:

• Sim: Dive World South. Simulate 50-foot dives in a fantastical underwater environment. Scuba gear is available to purchase at the sim. While I was shooting, some scuba divers came into view then zipped off quickly. I think I frightened them.

• Skin: Cabal: Wisp-Dagon by House of Ruin. Ruina Kessel makes beautiful fantasy skins... they're absolutely luminous as you can see from this blog post.

• Eyes: Wisp eyes (worn without prim overlays) by House of Ruin. When you put in the prim overlays, they look like mechanical doll eyes!

• "Hair": The Dauphin Horns (bee ashes) by House of Ruin, Courtisane Hair Set by Violator, and seaweed from Jorga Giano 1 Prim Plants

• Mermaid fin: SPLASH Mermaid Set KelpGreen by *Street Dermatology*. I was looking for a very scaly, fishy looking mermaid fin (no multicolored flowing silks and chiffons, please) and was pleasantly surprised at what I found at Akila Rondelstein's shop.

• School of fish skirt, bubbles and green flowy bits: parts of Okeanos - maritime gown by Grim Bros.

• Mermaid animations from KAMI-HITOE

• Color inspiration: