The Ningen, A Japanese Mermaid?

What started off as an anecdote posted in a popular Japanese online forum, has now led to a multitude of sightings and alleged video evidence of an aquatic, humanoid fish, said to be roughly the size of a whale. The Ningen, which translates literally to ‘human,’ is a 20-30 meter-long, bulbous creature that was originally spotted by a Japanese research vessel, off the coast of Antarctica.

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The creature is described as having a pale white, human-like figure with a torso, appendages, and fingers like ours, but with a mermaid-esque tail. It is also described as having minimal facial features with a small slitted mouth and two vacuous eyes.

The Ningen sea creature has been spotted primarily at night and in colder waters, leading some to believe that it has been hiding in the Arctic, beneath the ice. Some say that it may be a previously undiscovered species of albino ray, though the description of those who have encountered it is distinctly different.

There are several lackluster videos and questionable photos circulating the internet that purport to show the Ningen sea creature in its natural environment, but like most cryptids, none provide definitive proof. Though that hasn’t warranted an abandonment of the search for this amphibious wraith. Why would it? Scientists continue to discover multitudes of new marine species in the depths of the ocean on a regular basis.

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While the Ningen sea creature remains an anecdotal tale among Japanese sailors and fisherman, there is rumor that the Japanese government is taking reports of the Ningen seriously, amassing a trove of putative accounts. It has also been rumored that photographic evidence of the Ningen was captured by the sailors of the original story, but the Japanese government destroyed the evidence so as not to draw attention and controversy.

Some have speculated that the Japanese government may be involved in a cover-up of the Ningen, due to a rare chemical compound it may produce that is either medicinal or highly venomous and able to be weaponized. Stories have been told of men in black threatening anyone who purports to have seen the Ningen sea creature or anyone attempting to expose its existence; though this is all unconfirmed hearsay. And while the story of the Ningen didn’t necessarily attract significant international attention, Mu Magazine,a Japanese publication specializing in the paranormal, created a serious buzz in Japan. Soon a plethora of stories, sightings, and alleged photographic evidence was made public