#taur hour

[ranchwamen]

The final entry for Mermay did not quite manage to become finished for the final day of May, but I wanted to be sure that I could properly draw what I had in mind: basics of merfolk anatomy, as illustrated on a rainbow trout merm! Er, somewhat simplified, but my style is simplified in general. Enjoy, and happy June!

[ranchwamen]

Yellowfin tuna merm from the_schnub's Mermay! I wonder what her favourite colour might be!

I would've also liked to tie this into another Mermay prompt list, however, the more I started thinking about Sirpaverse submersible vehicles the more deep inside a rabbit hole I found myself in... look up amphibious cars some time and marvel at the engineering.

[ranchwamen]

Day 5 of Mermay! Since the prompt list I've been following features the scaly foot gastropod, which do not exist as taurs in Sirpaverse, I'll instead take the opportunity to explain a bit about merfolk skin :) Fishy merfolk (and some others) have a layer of slimy mucus on top of their skin, shown here! Underneath it, but still above the skin layer, is a hydrophobic coating of oils that is more similar in consistency to human skin oils. The mucus protects from waterborne pathogens and shields the oil layer from getting harmed, and the oil layer works to isolate the body from the outside elements.

When a merm is exposed to air for long periods of time, the mucus layer flakes off, leaving the oils to shield the skin from drying out. Merms can actually last for a very long time like this without damage to their skin! Once back in the water, the mucus layer slowly develops over the oil layer until it reaches its original thickness. Excessive alternation between water and air, mechanical damage or exposure to chemicals causes the mucus and oil layers to become damaged. This causes skin irritation and lessens immune defences of the body, making a merson become more prone to illness.

[ranchwamen]

I’ve decided to perform a true pro gamer move on this fine Mermay day 11, called “backtracking”! Here’s an ocean sunfish from the_schnub’s prompt list, with @traumas-mermay-2026’s day 10 prompt “merfolk on dry land”! I’ve drawn merfolk wheelchairs before, but an ocean sunfish is such a peculiarly shaped animal that I wanted to make a chair fitted for one, too. I’m not sure if this particular one is quite what the customer is looking for…..

Merfolk have a few ways of moving on dry land, but if the merm in question has no feet or ability to slither effectively, the amount of options dwindles down to wheelchairs (electric and non-electric) or becoming a faun (normal human-shaped). Or, you know, maybe you can drive your amphibious car-boat everywhere! But it’s not really sustainable in the long run. Merfolk don’t need to take care of moisturising much, at least.

I’ve drawn this ocean sunfish merm before actually, here’s the previous iteration :)

[ranchwamen]

Two of the most central air sports Miis from Wii Sports Resort but if they were taurs UuU Gwen takes pictures of you in Skydiving and Miguel flies a guide plane around notable landmarks in Island Flyover! Gwen is a sugar glider and appropriately wears a gliding suit (might as well glide like you've never glided before if you're already jumping out of a plane hundreds of meters in the air) and Miguel is a lesser black-backed gull.

[ranchwamen]

Day 4 of Mermay with the_schnub's prompt "giant squid" and @traumas-mermay-2026's prompt "in a fight". They sure are! ;D

Cephalopod merfolk have the human part sort of stapled in between the mantle and the arms, since that's the case for actual cephalopods too. Also showcasing one type of merfolk bed, which is, simply put, a very large mattress (suspended up from the floor).

[ranchwamen]

While cycling home in pouring rain trying to balance my flippers on one handlebar and drysuit in the other, I pondered what underwater mobility aids would look like for merms. One very handy dandy alternative is those underwater scooters, just with more power and maneuverability, probably longer and countoured to fit a person's upper body well so that you can rest on top of them instead of hanging on for dear life with your arms outstretched. Could also be like those sittable scooters with the air bubble, however, I believe I've made my stance clear on essentially glorified unlicensed scuba divers changing depths frantically

Another option which helps with underwater mobility and doesn't need electricity could be like those aids people give fish with buoyancy issues? Of course, a merm traverses through much larger depth differences than aquarium goldfish — which would mean that eventually, the bubbles on the aids would pop or shrink to basically be meaningless — but I think magic could help with keeping them functional! With an abra cadabra, the bubbles can change their shape and size, pressurising some of the gas to give the bubbles less buoyancy. Using the bubbles would reduce the strain of having to go up and down or maintain your position for merms with some lower body mobility, one can also aid with their arms — oh oh oh flippers! Flippers for arms.... perhaps attached to the forearm to free the hand itself?

With a lot of money and/or practice one could hypothetically create water currents that help them move better, but that also runs the risk of disrupting everyone and everything around oneself, also. Maybe more to come?

[ranchwamen]

What happens when a green-eyed fiddler crab merm and a wide-band anemonefish merm fall in love? It might just be this! I took the_schnub's prompts "fiddler crab" and "clownfish" and mashed them together a la @traumas-mermay-2026's day 11 prompt "hybrid" to create possibly the first merson of their kind.

Most of the time, in 99% of cases, taurs inherit only their mother or father's animal of inspiration. However, in a small minority of taur births, it is possible for a taur to exhibit features of both inspirations! It can be something small and innocuous like a ray fin instead of a fleshy dorsal fin or two-toed hooves instead of one-toed, but in the exteme cases it can be something quite noticeable and flashy like this merm here. Fortunately, hybridism doesn't tend to have negative health effects: human-sized anemonefish and endoskeletoned giant crabs are already freaks of nature, and therefore mashing the two anatomies and skeletons together is... strangely functional. (Maybe a little front-heavy with that fiddler claw though.)

Additional fun fact, merfolk can technically be naked in public, but only in a select few situations like lounging on the beach. Don't go to a job interview naked, please.