MERFOLK IN SOUTH AMERICA

Merfolk of Patagonia

As you may know, I have always been interested in the possibility that the Mermaid legend had behind it an as yet undiscovered humanoid that dwelt in the sea.

A Spanish writer noted that in 1632 a mermaid had been reported a number of times off Chiloe in Chile.  She was carrying a child.  She had long fair hair (or a mane), breasts like those of a human female and the tail and back of a fish.

This mermaid was identified with Pincoya, a South American legendary mermaid, who, with her husband Pincoy, was supposed to rule part of the sea.  Her father was a merman called Epuange or Millalomo, himself the hybrid of a sea-lion and a woman.

I have taken this information from the website Patagonian Monsters, operated by Lawrence Whittall.