Theory: symbiotic relationship. mermaids produce excessive milk at all life stages so the starfish drink it making the starfish well feed and the mermaid milked (which is important in over production of milk)
You are welcome.
I decided unilaterally that this is canon. Bring in the lorebooks gents we got some corrections and addendums to make.
Edit: wait so we stabilised that mermaids are ovviviparrous and mammals, like a platipus? The evolution tree needs a few reconsiderations maybe
I always figured mermaids would be more like cetaceans than fish. Having scales on their tails would be inaccurate, but breathing air, growing hair, and having a horizontal tail fluke are all in-line with mammals/cetaceans.
Not to mention, it would mean mermaids would have regular genitals (albeit hidden inside a genital fold, to increase hydrodynamics.) It would also mean they’d have normal placental pregnancies.
So that’s, uhh… a thing to consider.
This may very well be the weirdest comment I’ve ever upvoted
I’m glad to be of service.
I feel like the classic image the mermaid in my head is clamshells as a bra. However, my extensive mermaid knowledge consists of: ariel, the concept of the undine (which I have never seen depicted and I’m not sure is a mermaid actually, is this something that encompasses mermaids technically? Not really my forte), and decerto, who I have also never seen depicted
I feel like the classic image the mermaid in my head is clamshells as a bra.
You might be thinking of Ariel
However, my extensive mermaid knowledge consists of: ariel,
