Mermaids are just a myth and they never existed, a US government scientific agency has claimed.
The timing of the claim by the US National Ocean Service of the National Oceanic and Atmosph-eric Administration (NOAA) coincides with the Animal Planet show Mermaids: The Body Found, that was aired in May and explored whether there is “a kernel of truth that lives beneath the legend of the mythic mermaid”.
Not so, said the National Ocean Service. “No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found,” the agency said.
However, a NOAA spokesperson would not confirm that the post was in direct response to the show, which was presented in documentary format.
“The timing was around that time. I think the TV show came out around Memorial Day and we got a few of the questions [about mermaids],” Keeley Belva, spokesperson for National Ocean Service, told LiveScience.
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The Lock gets £22.4m at Christie’s auction
The Lock by British Romantic painter John Constable on Tuesday sold for £22.4 million ($35.2 million) at a London sale, smashing the world record price at auction for the artist.
The 56 x 47 inch (142.2 x 120.7 cm) oil on canvas, which depicts rural life in Suffolk, east England, went under the hammer at Christie’s Old Master and British Paintings Evening Sale.
The masterpiece which dates to 1884 was brought to auction by Baroness Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza, who admitted it had been “very painful” to let go of the painting, but had no choice as she had “no liquidity”.
It is one of six paintings from the artist’s most celebrated series of large-scale works — The Stour Series — which also includes The Hay Wain, now in London’s National Gallery. It was the last of the series in private hands. — AFP