Fiji mermaid

"Fejee mermaid", 1842

The Fiji mermaid (or Fe[e]jee mermaid) is an object of the sideshow world, not a true cryptid, which was popularized by P. T. Barnum in a display at Barnum's American Museum. A proper model of the fiji mermaid would be an assemblage of the taxidermied lower half of a fish with the torso and head of a monkey, though papier-mâché or clay constructions approximating the same appearance are certainly more common and easier to knock-out if you were interested in making your own.

Resources

• The Feejee Mermaid, museumofhoaxes.com, http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/archive/permalink/the_feejee_mermaid/  — background on the origins and Barnum's exhibition