Interesting Things, Cursed Images, etc.

If it were a case of Tops and Bottoms (quit sniggering) the resulting punnet square would not produce humans and Hippocampi, but rather: 1/4 centaur, ¼ mermaid, ¼ nonfunctional fish-tail-on-a-horse’s-neck and ¼ some kind of horrible humanoid pushmi-pullyu.

Putting aside that last concept, I think it’s more complicated than that.

See, a Centaur consists of 1) a human head and thorax/pectoral girdle & attending limbs 2) a horse thorax/pectoral girdle & attending limbs 3) a horse Abdomen/Pelvic girdle & attending limbs

Now, one might be inclined to say that a Mermaid consists only of a human head/thorax/Pec. gir&limbs and a fish posterior but modern mermaid illustrations and even some archaic depictions CLEARLY include the pectoral fins in much the place where the centaur’s horse pectoral girdle is.

Fig. 1: A modern depiction of a Mermaid, with the pelvic fins in the approximate location of a centaur’s forelegs and attending dorsal fin! (source) 

Fig 2: A vintage depiction of a mermaid, with the “skirt” looking a great deal like pectoral fins (note the presence of the anal fin) stylizied to suit the tastes of it’s period (source in image)

so, instead of being a simple case of ‘tops and bottoms’ the mermaid and the centaur share a complex 3-part anatomical stucture with a repeating thoracic element.  This is not something expressed with a punnet square but instead with a fractorial tree to examine all possible permutations and combinations of this bodyplan.

It might be expressed as M (man) F (fish) H (horse), and possible combinations include:

Fig 3: M/M/M  (source)

Fig 4:  F/F/M AKA “Frank” (Source)

Or

If it were a case of Tops and Bottoms (quit sniggering) the resulting punnet square would not produce humans and Hippocampi, but rather: 1/4 centaur, ¼ mermaid, ¼ nonfunctional fish-tail-on-a-horse’s-neck and ¼ some kind of horrible humanoid pushmi-pullyu.

Putting aside that last concept, I think it’s more complicated than that.

See, a Centaur consists of 1) a human head and thorax/pectoral girdle & attending limbs 2) a horse thorax/pectoral girdle & attending limbs 3) a horse Abdomen/Pelvic girdle & attending limbs

Now, one might be inclined to say that a Mermaid consists only of a human head/thorax/Pec. gir&limbs and a fish posterior but modern mermaid illustrations and even some archaic depictions CLEARLY include the pectoral fins in much the place where the centaur’s horse pectoral girdle is.

Fig. 1: A modern depiction of a Mermaid, with the pelvic fins in the approximate location of a centaur’s forelegs and attending dorsal fin! (source) 

Fig 2: A vintage depiction of a mermaid, with the “skirt” looking a great deal like pectoral fins (note the presence of the anal fin) stylizied to suit the tastes of it’s period (source in image)

so, instead of being a simple case of ‘tops and bottoms’ the mermaid and the centaur share a complex 3-part anatomical stucture with a repeating thoracic element.  This is not something expressed with a punnet square but instead with a fractorial tree to examine all possible permutations and combinations of this bodyplan.

It might be expressed as M (man) F (fish) H (horse), and possible combinations include:

Fig 3: M/M/M  (source)

Fig 4:  F/F/M AKA “Frank” (Source)

Or