MerMay is quite a popular art challenge in May, almost as trendy as Inktober. The premise is to draw (or make art of, which is not limited to drawing) merfolk or water creatures during the whole month.
You could create original characters, or fan-art… But what media feature (fantasy) water creatures?
Here’s part 5 (and the last part for now) of my “merfolk & water creatures in media” series: species. = Only a few characters/species of the whole cast are merfolk/water creatures. (They may be part of the main cast, but if not, make more appearances throughout the series and aren’t the center of the plot to be listed unter “episodes”.)
Part 1 was literature (books & comics), Part 2 movies and tv shows, Part 3 episodes and Part 4 characters.
Ps. This list only includes:
- Have seen myself (= I’ve seen the entire show/franchise.)
- Am familiar with (= I’ve seen a few episodes or know about it because of popularity.)
- Haven’t seen (= I’ve not seen anything from these franchises. All info is from my own research.)
There are many, many more than that.
(The links are anchor links and will lead you directly to the paragraph.)
Count:
- TV shows: 24
- Movies: 12
- Games: 10
- Books: 4
Have seen:
How to train your Dragon
- tidal class:
Scauldron, Seashocker, Shellfire, Sliquifier, Water Gronckle, etc.
A franchise that started with the movie from DreamWorks in 2010 and ended with 3 movies, 3 tv shows (well, 5 if you count the 2 spin-offs), 6 short films, 5+ games, and a live action movie in the making. Based on a book series by Cressida Cowell.
It begins with Hiccup, a young viking, who lives in a village where killing Dragons is normal, though he’s the only one who never had taken one down. One day, when he gets the chance to do so, however, he befriends and trains a dragon. And the rest is about Hiccup and his friends finding and rescuing more dragons, while stopping the bad guys who try to harm these creatures.
There aren’t that many water dragons (tidal class), but more than I’ve listed here.
I have a Sliquifer OC.
Zak Storm
- Cece (altantian, half-human)
- Shark trolls (walk on legs)
- Kraken
- Jellyfish (gigantic)
The series is from the same producer as Miraculous Ladybug, Jeremy Zag. It’s about Zak, a teenage boy, who accidentally strands in a fantasy world – the Bermuda Triangle. Together with six others, he forms a pirate crew – calling themselves the 7 Cs –, and tries to get out of the triangle, while also battling the bad guys.
Cece is part of the main characters, the rest are creatures with occasional appearances.
Onward (Pixar)
- Merpeople
Onward is a movie by Pixar from 2019. It’s about the two elven brothers, Ian and Barley Lightfoot, who live in an urban fantasy world and set out on a quest to find an artifact that can bring back their deceased father, although it’s only for 24 hours.
There are tons of fantasy creatures, including merpeople, albeit they’re not part of the story. Still, a sweet family movie that I can recommend.
Tales of Arcadia
- deep sea trolls
- river trolls
- Quagawumps (swamp trolls)
A 3-part series with 6 seasons (Trollhunters, 3-below, Wizards) and a movie (Rise of the titans) in total, set in the american town Arcadia, where supernatural things happen all the time, although mostly hidden from regular humans. Well, at least the fantasy residents try to be as secretive as possible. But that changes when Jim, a normal human boy, finds a magical amulet, that has chosen him to be the next troll hunter.
3Below introduces aliens, and Wizards is about time-travel. The movie concluded the franchise with one large crossover between all characters from the 3 shows.
Very recommendable! One of my favorites from DreamWorks.
Ice Age
- sirens
A movie series by Blue Skye studios. It’s about Manny, a mammoth, Sid, a ground sloth, and Diego, a saber-tooth tiger, who befriended each other through circumstances in the first movie.
The sirens featured in Ice Age 4 are fish-like monsters, which appear as the person you’re attracted to or as something you love most.
Ice Age 1-3 are my childhood! Ice Age 4 was mid, the 5th was the worst and haven’t seen the 6th yet. Low-key forgot it existed.
Infinity Train
- water denizens (Randall)
- kajiu monsters (shark-like)
- floating jellyfish
- mermaids
- octopus people
- sea serpent
A literal, infinite train inside a pocket universe, which appears in front of someone, when they’re about to make a decision that will negatively impact their future. There, they get a number on their hand, that they need to make it go down, in order to go back home.
Each season is about a different person. Season 1 starts with a teenage girl, Tulip, who wants to go to a game festival, but as her parents don’t allow her to, she sneaks out and decides to go there herself. The train appears shortly after she left. On the train, she meets One-One, a round robot with two personalities, who is looking for his mom. Tulip takes him with her and together they try not to get killed by another robot, who doesn’t seem to like them.
I really really love the premise of the show! The different train cars are so creative! The fact that the train is infinite would also give a base for infinite stories/seasons. Too bad it got cancelled after the 4th season.
I’ve made fan art of One-One once: compositing and animation.
Raya and the last dragon
- water dragons:
Sisu, Pengu, Pranee, Jagan, Amba, & other unnamed
After seeing her father and her whole village turn to stone, Raya sets out on a quest to find the last dragon and stop the monsters, Druun, to spread further in the kingdom.
Sisu and the others are water dragons, who can “fly” when it rains, by using their magic to walk on water.
A bit underrated. It wasn’t the best and I was also many times annoyed by Raya’s personality, though I do like the Southeast asian setting and and character’s designs. It did make me emotional during the finale.
Once upon a time
- mermaids (random mermaid in s2, Ariel)
- Octopus (Ursula, Regina as Ursula)
- nymphs
- kraken
- leviathan
- Monstro (whale-like creature)
- siren
- mock turtles
- giant squids
- Medusa
A tv show based on fairytales, particularly Disney’s adaptations. The evil queen still hasn’t forgiven Snow White for killing her boyfriend, and works on a curse to take away everyone’s happy endings, especially Snow White’s and Prince Charming’s. That curse brought all fairy tale characters from the enchanted forest into our world. A small village in Maine, Storybrooke.
Emma Swan, Snow’s and Charming’s daughter, who was born shortly before the curse and managed to escape through a magic closet that Geppetto, Pinocchio’s dad, built, serves as the savior. When Regina, the evil queen and mayor of Storybrooke, finds out that Emma is not only the birth mother of her adoptive son, Henry, but also the one who can break the curse, she tries everything to stop her.
I love the crazy family tree the writers have created in this show. And the backstories of the villains. Also the only Frozen adaptation (season 4) I’ll ever accept.
I don’t like Emma much, but you should totally check it out for Regina! There’s also two lesbian couples. One minor in season 5, and one major in season 7. <3
Dragon City
- sea element
- ice element
A mobile game, where you can breed and collect dragons and fight against other users’ dragons, while building a village (on multiple floating islands) for your dragons.
I’Ve first downloaded the app in 2013, played a lot, then had a break of ~4 years, played again for a while, and now been on a break for about 2 years. Mostly due to lack of storage and not enough time. I love the dragons’ designs, though! I’ve collected 959 out of ~2000.
Monster Legends
- water element
Same premise as the game above, but with monsters.
I’ve shortly played it for about 2 years, but not sure why I’ve stopped. Still, I do love the designs of the monsters here too and can totally recommend it.
The Croods
- ground whale
- Narwheal
- turkeyfish
- Sand snake
- turtle dove
- crocopups
- Duckdactyl
- glow frog
- land shark
- rainbow electric eel
- waterfly
- scorpion
- Piranhakeet
- chicken seal
- fishcat
The Croods are a family in a pre-historic era. When their cave is destroyed, they meet Grug, a young man traveling alone, and join him for a while.
A fun family movie by DreamWorks. Love the creatures especially, in both movies.
The land before time
- Eusthenopteron
- Liopleurodon
- Archelon
- Barracuda
- Shark
- Pike
- Elasmosaurus
- Ophthalmosaurus
- Pliosaur
- crabs
A movie series with 14 movies and a tv show about Littlefoot and his friends he meets on his journey. Set in the Mesozoic era.
One of my favorite franchises from my childhood! I haven’t watched all movies, but I have watched all episodes of the tv show. Still know the intro song by heart. <3
Kappa no Kou
- Kappa
Summer Days with Coo is a very emotional anime featuring the cruelties of humanity. It starts with a young Kappa’s father getting killed by a samurai and as the child cries, the ground opens and swallows him. Time-skip to our time, a young human boy finds the Kappa and takes him home. They warm up to each other and Coo, the Kappa’s name, soon is treated like a family member. However, the joyful days end when tourists spot Coo and the family is followed by journalists, leaving them no privacy. When Coo finds out about his magical abilities, things get even worse.
A Kappa is a Youkai (japanese demon) or Kami (japanese god) that lives in bodies of water. They usually look like reptilian humanoids.
Am familiar with:
Pokémon
- water type
- ice type
An anime franchise, short for “Pocket monsters”, follows Ash and his friends (esp. Pikachu). With creatures in all forms and sizes, the humans and their pokémon companions form teams, go on adventures, train their skills and battle in competitions against other teams.
The Pokémons have 1-2 elements, and there are 18 types/elements in total.
I have watched a few episodes, but I was never really interested in the battle/competition aspect. I just love the Pokémons and their designs.
Helluva Boss
- envy ring
- greed ring
A spin-off of Hazbin Hotel, it’s about the demon’s life and/or afterlife in hell. Adult cartoon.
There are 7 rings of hell that make up the map and tell which species are living where. The show focuses mostly on imps (wrath ring), and I’m not sure how present the envy and/or greed ring is. But according to the Wiki, the envy ring residents are inspired by our sea creatures (sharks, whales, etc). And there’s an ocean in the greed ring. I like the designs.
Genshin Impact
- element: hydro
- creatures: Rhodeia of Loch, hydro mimics, hydro slime, hydro abyss mage, grounded mushroom
The game is about two twins (which the player can choose from to play), who get isekai’d into a fantasy world. Shortly after their arrival, the other twin (depends which the player has chosen) gets captured by an evil entity, and it’s up to the player’s twin to save him/her.
I haven’t actually played it, but I’ve watched some Let’s Play’s and most of the cut scenes, read the Manga, and know the lore of most main characters. I love the animation and the designs.
Jake and the Neverland pirates
- merpeople:
Marina, Stormy, Finn, Lord Fathom, & other unnamed
A Neverland show that has three young pirates as the main characters (and good guys), instead of the lost kids. Although they too are part of Peter’s crew and constantly have to fight Captain Hook as well.
I haven’t seen much of it but it seems cute.
American Dragon Jake Long
- merpeople:
Silver, Dolores Derceto, & other unnamed
Jake finds out he’s a descendant of a dragon dynasty, whose job it is to keep magical creatures hidden from the human world.
I like the premise, but apart from the mythological creatures, Jake’s teenage life never really appalled to me.
One Piece
- merfolk (mermaids & merman)
- fish-men (humanoid fish)
Luffy, a young man assembles a pirate crew, the Straw Hat Pirates, and together they set out to find Roger’s ultimate treasure known as the “One Piece”.
It’s a franchise with many, many Manga volumes, anime seasons/episodes and a live action series. Just like Naruto, one of the very popular animes.
I have watched maybe one or two episodes, but due to it being marketed for the male gaze (women with large breasts & few clothing, and male characters who do nothing but drink, eat, get served by women and have fun all day), I was never really interested in it.
Two online friends recently got into it though, and that’s when I found out there’s actually much more to the show. Apparently the marketing clips are just a small aspect of it and the rest is not as bad as it may sound. And Luffy also might be asexual, which is all the more reason to check it out.
SCP Foundation
- aquatic/liquid:
005-INT, 006-INT, 019-IT, 157-KO, 496, 835 “large mass of coral-like polyps”, 1092 Marvin, 1099, 1128 “the aquatic horror”, 1238, 1518 “Marvin”, 5640, etc.
TW: Horror
SCP stands for “Secure, Contain, Protect” or also “Special Containment Procedures Foundation”.
It’s a fictional, wiki-based collaborative writing project, where anyone can contribute to. The foundation itself is a secret organization responsible for capturing, containing, and studying various paranormal/supernatural and other mysterious phenomena (known as “anomalies” or “SCPs”).
If you go to the official website, under Discovery you can click on Tag search and search for water-related tags (i.e., aquatic or liquid). This will give you all SCPs that are water-related, as there are many more than I’ve listed here.
Just be aware that the main genre is horror and some SCPs are genuinely scary. The images can also be very graphic.
Sindbad Legend of the Seven seas
- sirens
A movie by DreamWorks, which I may or may not have seen. It does feel like I have, but at the same time I don’t remember it at all…
Sindbad is accused of theft. To show his innocence, he sets out to the sea. But he has only 10 days time to do so.
Amphibia
- amphibians
- island crab
- Barbari-ants
- frilled lizard
- garbage lizard
- water strider
- shadowfish
- River lamprey
- magpie beetle
- water snake
- alligator
- sod skink
- giant fish
- stingray
- kraken
The 13 year old girl, Anne Boonchuy, accidentally lands in a magical land, called “Amphibia”, inhabited by anthropomorphic amphibians and insects. Anne befriends a frog, Spring, and together with his family, tries to find a way back home.
A tv series that’s been on my watchlist for a while.
The Owl House
- basilisk (Vee, the inspector)
- lobster-like demon (Salty)
- selkidomus
- trash slug
Luz, a human girl, lands in a magical realm through a portal and befriends the witch Eda. Although she doesn’t have any magical powers, she follows her dream of being a witch and becomes Eda’s student.
Also has been on my list for a while, especially after finding out there’s a major lesbian couple!
Over the garden wall
- fisher fish
- riverboat frogs
Two half-brothers, Wirt and Greg, travel across a mysterious, supernatural forest to find their way back home.
Also has been on my list for a while. I’ve seen a few clips and I love the sinister vibe.
Adventure time
- crocodiles
- crustaceans
- whipple (water dragon)
- pizza fish
- dream fish
- reincarnation fish
- jellyfish
- lizard people
- lizards
- lub glubs
- mermaids
- mind frogs
- mutant newts
- octopuses
- poisonous jellyfish
- sea lard
- water princess
- water nymphs
- Trudy the waist
- ice cube creature
- cloud people
- canyon
- woobeewoo
Finn, a 14 year old boy, and a magic dog, Jake, who can change shape, go on many adventures through the post-apocalyptic land Ooo.
While I wasn’t that much of a fan of the humor back then, I am now. And I love all the different creatures. Still can’t get over the fact that Finn has hair, though, lol. I’ve never seen the actual episode, only heard about it years later after having forgotten about the show, and still can’t quite believe it. Gotta rewatch and watch all episodes sometime.
The Smurfs
- merpeople:
Marina, king Aquarius, mermaid Smurfette, & other unnamed
Centered around a fictional colony of small, blue, humanoid dwarves, who live in mushroom-shaped houses in a forest.
I have seen most of it, I believe, but don’t remember the mermaid episodes.
Jurassic Park/World
- Mosasaurus
- Nothosaurus
- Basilosaurus
- Plesiosaurus
- Mesosaurus
- Prognathodon
- Onchopristis
- Macropoma
I’ve only seen Jurassic Park 1-3, Jurassic World 1 and the 5-season tv show Camp Cretaceous by DreamWorks. (The latter is the best, imo!)
Animal crossing
- frog
- octopus
- axolotl
- crocodile/alligator
- seagull
- sea lion
- otter
- walrus
- kappa
- tortoise
- lizard
- hippo
- duck
- beaver
A video game series from Nintendo, where the player gets a humanoid avatar and has to build a home in a land with humanoid animals. To get money, the player’s character has to perform various tasks. The simulation game works in real-time.
Haven’t played it myself, but watched some Let’s Play’s and short films. Apparently there’s also an anime?
Haven’t seen:
Grimm
- Naiad (mermaid/siren-like)
- Wasserzahne (monsters)
A horror and supernatural show, inspired by Grimm’s fairytales. The so-called Wesen live among us, disguised as a human. Only a few people can see their true nature, these are the Grimm and they hunt the Wesen down, making sure humans are safe from the potential threat they possess.
I haven’t seen any of it, but I am very familiar with the Grimm fairytales, although it seems the plot of the show doesn’t really have anything to do with the fairytales, except the creatures. But thanks to the list I made in 2023, I’ve pretty much read through all species listed in the Wiki. They’re quite interesting.
World of Warcraft
- Murloc
- Mur’gul
- Makrura
- Crocolisk
- Lurker below
- Naga
- Threshadon
- Urchin
- Sea lion
- Frenzy
- Lobstrok
I haven’t played it, but I’ve read the book “World of Warcraft: Traveler” by Greg Weisman, which is set in the same universe. Not sure whether the protagonist from the book also makes an appearance in the game, though. I did love the illustrations in the book, and that made me want to read more about the creatures. Some are really cute!
Digimon
- aquatic type
Similar to Pokémon, also an anime, but with different creatures and a bit of a different storyline. Still, the premise is the same. Though I wouldn’t necessarily compare them too much – I’m here for the creatures anyways, and they both deliver in some neat designs. You can love both. xP
Final Fantasy
- Leviathan
- Kraken
- Sahagin
- Bigeyes
- Shark
- Killer fish
- Bolt fish
- Sea snake
- Sea dragon
- Manta Ray
- Thunder anemone
- Corbett/stingray
- Nix
- Seascorpion
- Vilia
- Gel fish
- Sea devil
Another game I keep hearing about here and there, but not enough to actually know what it’s about. It does have some nice designs, though.
These are some water creatures I could find, but there are probably more.
Fairy tail
- merpeople
The anime series follows Lucy, a young girl, who wants to be the best stellar magician in the whole kingdom.
Monster Rancher
- water: Lesione, Jell, Octopee, Zilla, Shierure, Ogyo, Undine
- ice: Purimo
A video game series adapted into an anime of the same name. Similar premise to Pokémon and Digimon.
Hook (1991) / Peter Pan (2003) / Pan (2015)
- (lagoon) mermaids
Three different movies, but since it’s basically the same story and the same type of mermaids (although different designs), I’m counting it as one here.
BNA (anime)
- beastmen:
crocodiles, dolphins, ducks, hippopotamuses, orcas, penguins, piranhas, sharks, snapping turtles, whales
“Brand new animal” is a japanese anime from 2020. Humanoid animals (called beastmen) have been living in secrecy for centuries, and have now, in the 21st century, came to the public. To live in harmony with humans, they created Anima City. The protagonist, Michiru, seeks refugee in Anima City, after finding out she’s a tanuki beastman.
Love the concept and the designs. Definitely have to watch it someday!
Slugterra
- water elemental slug:
aquabeek, bubbaleone, jellyish, lariat, makobreaker, Spikeshade, Tenasher
Similar premise to Pokémon and Digimon, but with slugs, and it’s a canadian series.
Kipo and the age of wonderbeasts
- Mega walrus (Emilia)
- Narwhal mutes
- Umlaut Snäkes
- Mod Frogs
A teenage girl, Kipo, is searching for her father after being forced out of her burrow. On the surface, the world is a post-apocalyptic world rules by mutated animals.
DreamWorks once again doesn’t disappoint when it comes to queer rep and neat character designs. Interesting art style as well.
Sharkdog
- sharkdog (half shark, half dog)
- sharkpups (half sharks, half dog puppies)
A tv show for kids from 2021, which is about Max and his best friend Sharkdog, who is half shark, half dog.
Fin fun finfriends
- mermaidens
An online website with various mini games and videos about mermaids.
So. This was the last part, for now. But, studios will likely continue making more water-themed stories, so once I’ve gathered enough, there will be more. XD
Feel free to comment any other merfolk/aquatic species you may know, which I haven’t mentioned here or in any of the other parts.
~Arden Skye
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