The Fiji Mermaid reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004
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Fiji Mermaid

A common feature of sideshows, the Figi Mermaid was popularized by circus great Phineas Taylor Barnum but has since been copied many times in other sideshows.

Definitely a mummified body of something, the original was supposedly a a creature that was half mammal and half fish. It was in reality the tail of a fish and a torso of a baby orangutan, stitched together with the head of a monkey.

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