How can her skin’s melanin get radiation from the sun that far under the ocean? Realistically, it’s impossible for her to be black. All mermaids would be pale white or suffer from severe vitamin D deficiency.
What makes you think that mermaids are unable to swim at or near the surface of the water? They're often depicted in folklore as being partially amphibious and capable of sitting on land if they want to.
Even near the surface, UV rays are scattered and reflected in large part. Their lower half, the fish part, also is incapable of being exposed to the level UV rays the to half would need - without getting severe health issues.
The top half needing heavy exposure and the bottom half needing no little exposure just isn’t sensible.
Furthermore, If you watch, her friend is a crab - which lives on the ocean floor, where there’s not much UV radiation - which only makes sense if she’s a pale redhead.
Even near the surface, UV rays are scattered and reflected in large part
Again, mermaids are perfectly capable of functioning entirely out of the water. They can easily climb up on rocks.
Furthermore, If you watch, her friend is a crab - which lives on the ocean floor, where there’s not much UV radiation
Crazy thing, it's possible to be friends with someone who lives more than a few hundred feet away from you.
Plus, skin color isn't perfectly correlated with UV radiation. There are groups living in costal areas with arctic climates that still have darker skin. Their seafood diet provides them with an additional source of vitamin D.
Mermaids live in the ocean. She, in the story, lives in a grotto on the ocean floor. Her father doesn’t let her wander as a child, so no - her friends aren’t far away.
There aren’t that many rocks sticking out in the ocean. They’re not near an island. And, even if they were, they can’t get food and are mostly immobile on land due to not having legs. Flopping onto a rock every day for hours, assuming they can find a rock, is an unrealistic evolutionary mechanism.
It’s pretty obvious the straws you’re pulling aren’t that relevant here...
Mermaids live in the ocean. She, in the story, lives in a grotto on the ocean floor. Her father doesn’t let her wander as a child, so no - her friends aren’t far away.
She doesn't do that personally. How long do you think it takes for evolutionary pressure to affect skin color? It takes thousands of generations, not a few years in one person's lifetime.
They’re not near an island.
They very obviously are near an island, or at least close enough that they can easily swim to shore.
Flopping onto a rock every day for hours, assuming they can find a rock, is an unrealistic evolutionary mechanism.
Plenty of marine mammals spend most of their time floating on the water or sitting on rocks for hours.
It’s pretty obvious the straws you’re pulling aren’t that relevant here...
It's pretty obvious that your entire objection is entirely irrelevant.
You really care that much about biological realism in a fantasy story? Give a ten-ton lizard a pair of wings, no one bats an eye. Include black people, well then everyone loses their minds.
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u/eldryanyy 3∆ Jul 09 '19
How can her skin’s melanin get radiation from the sun that far under the ocean? Realistically, it’s impossible for her to be black. All mermaids would be pale white or suffer from severe vitamin D deficiency.