Last time we saw Madison, the mermaid in Splash, she was swimming along the ocean floor to an underwater kingdom with her true love Allen Bauer. (We should note here that we don't count anything that happened in Splash, Too.) Anyway, Madison apparently came back to the big city, and has since fallen on tough times. Remember that porn scene a Midtown employee spotted from his office earlier this week? That was her! Albeit, sans tail, and sans that Tom Hanks-looking guy. more ›

At a performance in Sydney, Australia over the weekend, Lady Gaga rolled out onto the stage in a wheelchair wearing a mermaid outfit. Sound familiar? Maybe that's because Bette Midler created that act back in the 1980s. Midler took to Twitter to rant at the pop star, saying, "Dear @ladygaga I've been doing singing mermaid in a wheelchair since 1980—You can keep the meat dress and the firecracker tits—mermaid's mine." Indeed, Midler did do it first: more ›

The Coney Island Mermaid Parade marched down Surf Avenue yesterday, but this year the parade took on a different tone. As one sign put it: "Fuck You BP, Save the Mermaids." There was an element of protest at yesterday's parade, as some marchers and performers attempted to remind the audience that real marine life is in danger in the Gulf of Mexico. " Performance artist James (Tigger) Ferguson told the Daily News, "Today is a celebration of sea life trying to survive in the gulf. The Mermaid Parade is a celebration of marine life, mythical and real." more ›

PETA is chiming in on that proposed aquarium in Times Square; the group wrote a letter to developer Jerry Shefsky this week which included their own alternative plan for his venture. They say that fish “suffer horribly in captivity,” and a synchronized mermaid swimming show would be more humane and attract just as many visitors as fish. Their Mermaids in Manhattan plan would be based off the 60-year-old Florida underwater park, Weeki Wachee. more ›

You may have to suspend disbelief here, but we assure you this is real life; you didn't just wake up in a 1984 Ron Howard film. Somewhat recently there were multiple mermaid sightings off the coast of Kiryat Yam (near Haifa in Northern Israel) which prompted the town to offer up a $1 million reward for anyone who could prove the mythical creature exists. Once this news traveled all the way to New York, the Brooklyn-based Mermaid Medical Association got involved. (Also: there is a Mermaid Medical Association.) more ›

Savitri D., normally acting as director of the Church of Stop Shopping, became a mermaid this past weekend. After marching in the Mermaid Parade on Coney Island as Queen, and attending the Ball later that night, she began a hunger strike. She now sits in a storefront on Coney Island, fasting until a scoping meeting tomorrow regarding the fate of the area. You can see her on a livecam that's been set up; she talked to us after her fast began about her cause. more ›

Reverend Billy and Savitri D have been named King Neptune and Queen Mermaid of the 2008 Coney Island Mermaid Parade, taking place this Saturday, and they're using their power to save Coney "from the gentrifying apocalypse of RETAIL ENTERTAINMENT HELL!" But as they say, No pain, No Gain -- and in order to help their cause, the Queen Mermaid has declared a hunger strike.

The Queen Mermaid will refuse to go back in the ocean! She will initiate a hunger strike during the parade, and will live in a window on Surf Ave and West 12th from the Mermaid Ball until the critical scoping meeting on June 24th at 6 pm. She is fasting to draw attention to a destructive scheme to reduce 60 acres of amusements to 9. She is fasting so YOU will come to this meeting, where the fate of Coney Island may be determined.