Nexus - 1704 - New Times Magazine-pages

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IN SEARCH OF THE MYTHICAL MERMAID SEARCH THE MYTHICAL MERMAID Numerous historical and modern-day sightings of sea mammals bearing human-like features and a double-finned tail suggest the existence of an aquatic species of hominin. The Ri or New Guinea Mermaid rom August 1973 to December 1974, I dwelt amongst the living wonders Fe the world's largest tropical island, New Guinea, studying the flora and fauna with biologists at the Wau Ecology Institute, lecturing on ecology at the Lae Teachers College and living with Stone Age tribal people. Between 2 and 7 October 1973, I was travelling on the Papuan Explorer, a 340- on vessel carrying cargo along the northern coast of Papua New Guinea between Lae and Vanimo, delivering supplies and a few passengers to Wewak and Aitape. During the five-day voyage, I spent much of my time identifying e marine life that included large fish, sharks, rays, spinner dolphins and sea birds. On 3 October, around midday, | observed directly in front of the bow a round dark head on the sea surface that looked more human than anything else. At e approach of the vessel, the creature's head suddenly submerged straight down beneath the water as if it had pulled itself under by the use of its flippers and tail. I was standing near the bow, and as we passed over the animal | obtained a clear view as it sank vertically about two metres below the surface. saw a dark head and an elongated body pulling itself straight down through e clear water by the use of its tail. It was human-sized, though I could see no sign of arms or fins. I wondered if it may have been a dugong. I had previously examined an old drawing from Sir James Emerson Tennent's 868 book Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon' of two female dugongs resting on the water's surface with their heads raised vertically in the air and each suckling her young on her breasts. I had observed dugongs feeding in Moreton Bay, near Brisbane, and had closely examined an injured dugong as it was washed ashore on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland in 1968. These were arge, stout animals that never hung in the water in a vertical position. They always remained horizontal, feeding on sea grass and swimming to the surface © raise their whiskered snout to inhale air before rapidly diving to resume eeding. Observations of dugongs have proved that the animals never behave as the old illustration had depicted. Perhaps it was a dugong head that | saw raised above the ocean surface. However, the creature should then have propelled itself forward and dived ead first, not pulled itself backwards under the water. The body was slim, unlike the bulky shape of a dugong. I was unable to come to a conclusion as o what the animal was. Some time later, I was talking to an elderly New Guinean man from a coasta village near Aitape and was questioning him on his knowledge of the loca auna. After he listed the usual common species that he had encountered during his long life in the area, he began to describe a marine mammal that he ad only once encountered. He and a friend were fishing off the coast in their dugout canoe and upon hauling up their net, which was unusually heavy, they brought to the surface a most remarkable animal. It had a round, dark head Post Office Box 383 Brunswick Heads, NSW 2483 Australia JUNE - JULY 2010 NEXUS #55 by Gary Opit © 2010 Email: garyopit@gmail.com www.nexusmagazine.com