for your information...

This past weekend my fiancee and I went to Redlands to hang out with her Grandparents and her friend from College and his fiancee. Her grandparents live in a mobile home park for 55 or older. We had a delightful time being waited on hand and foot by her grandmother, sitting by the pool listening to dirty old people talk about tanning, current health problems, past wars and lack of sex life. A highlight was both evenings getting a chance to catch up with Nathan (Emily's friend from college) about his job and my job, the excitement of upcoming married life, and how merpeople reproduce. The latter being discussed past a point of exhaustion. We discussed it for nearly a half hour, including the concept that mermaids probably wear shell bras to keep the laser beams from killing other merpeople and sea life, kind of like Cyclops the X-Man. The conversation ended with Nathan stating, "I need to go to bed. This is all making way too much sense."+

Upon his return he found this tid bit of information I thought it necessary to blog:

'How mermaids reproduce' is reasonably accurate,insofar as live birth vs. hatching from eggs. However, the statement that '(the) clitoris (which is the same color as the tail) is slightly below the urogenital opening, is a falsehood, simply because mermaids do not have a clitoris.That function is provided by a different organ. Merpeople have, surrounding the pelvis area, a wrap of fin-like,translucent skin called the 'skirt'. In the female there is an area in the front of the body, just at the base of the skirt that is extremely sensitive, and reproduces the effect of a human clitoris. The statement is made that the Male's penis is 'almost as small as the human female clitoris and the same color as the tail, it is hardly visible. The author then goes on to say that 'this is the only plausible explanation as to why no one has ever seen a penis on any of the male mermaids.'Firstly, the term is 'merman or mermen' not 'male mermaids.' Secondly there is a very plausible reason as to why we haven't seen a penis on a merman... they have internal genitalia, only extending when used for sexual intercourse. Many mammals have internal genitalia, especially underwater dwelling mammals; i.e. whales and dolphins. During sexual excitement, the penis extends out from an opening in the skin. This opening, like the female's vagina, is well hidden, making it difficult to see. The merman penis varies in size, just like the human penis.

Huh, good to know.