History Main / SeashellBra

** While most mermaids in the series are topless (don't worry, [[NonhumansLackAttributes nothing is shown]]), [[GiantWoman Giga]] [[KingMook Mermaid]] from the fourth game has her chest covered with a pair of shells that are bigger than Shantae herself. When Shantae transforms into a mermaid, she instead has a large starfish clinging to her back with two of its tentacles wrapped around her chest.

* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'': Surprising no one, Kiara Sesshouin's summer swimsuit form uses clamshells. Since she cites ''The Little Mermaid'' as one of her favorite stories, it's probably an homage to the Disney version.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''' parody of ''Literature/TheOdyssey,'' the [[EnthrallingSiren sirens]] wear these. [[spoiler:[[FanDisservice They're "played" by Patty and Selma]]]].

* The mermaid encountered by ComicBook/{{Superboy}} (a sort of next-gen Lori Lemaris) in ''Adventure Comics 80 Page Giant''. ComicBook/PostCrisis Lori herself sometimes wears a normal bikini top, but more often has GodivaHair. Pre-ComicBook/{{Crisis|on Infinite Earths}} Lori wore something resembling a blouse or minidress at all times.

* Misty from ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' wears a pink one whenever she plays the [[https://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/1/12541/789437-kasumi_mermaid_1_.jpg Magical Mermaid]]. In her case it's probably just a fabric bra that looks like seashells.

[[folder: Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]

* ''Film/Hercules1983'' has Cassiopeia dressed in [[FanService thin strips of cloth falling from a collar around her neck]] and (to retain its PG rating) a thong bikini and small sea shells. Even better, she is played by [[MsFanservice Ingrid Anderson]].

* In the 1968 sci-fi B-movie ''Film/{{Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women}}'' (which is actually a re-cut of the Soviet sci-fi ''Planeta Bur''), the Venusian natives are [[HumanAliens blonde women]] wearing seashell bras and skin-tight rubber pants.

* Not a mermaid, but in ''[[Literature/{{Dinoverse}} I was a Teenage T. rex]]'', one of the leads becomes a Leptoceratops, and despite not having anything to cover she didn't feel comfortable going naked. She tries sticking leaves on with sap -- they fall off. The Quetzalcoatlus character takes pity on her and makes a top-and-bottom out of seashells with holes poked in them and strung together by vines; these last a little longer.

* Despite her being an iconic example, the live action Ariel in ''Series/OnceUponATime'' doesn't wear a strapless seashell bra, but instead sports one made out of.....something. It's encrusted with pearls, gems, and shells, but appears to be some kind of purple leather.
* ''Series/PowerRangersLightspeedRescue'' : PlayedWith Marina, a mermaid and love interest to Chad, wears something similar to a seashell bra.

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]

[[folder:Theater]]

** Helena's Godfather bikini (and its pallette swaps) from ''Dead or Alive Xtreme 2'' is this... though its so small it's more like Seashell PASTIES...

* Parodied in the ''Videogame/{{Shantae}}'' series via a series of in-character Twitter posts. Shantae takes a bath in a pond, but finds [[GoneSwimmingClothesStolen her clothes missing when she comes back for them.]] Not wanting to run around naked, she tries using whatever she can reach from the water to cover herself, including the wildlife.
-->'''Shantae:''' Well, I've tried wearing all sorts of aquatic creatures and am pretty badly hurt at this point.

-->''Don't ask what keeps the seashells on.''

* Professional mermaids - as in people who wear the costume and perform in the water - are likely to wear normal bikini tops that are designed like seashell bras.
* The 1986 Expo in Vancouver B.C. had "Transportation" as its theme, and , appropriately they had an old sailing ship as one of the exhibits, which had a bare-breasted mermaid as a figurehead. However, the manager of the World's Fair was an Evangelical Christian, and to general public hilarity, he insisted that the mermaid be clad in a specially constructed seashell bra. [[/folder]]

Of course, [[ValuesDissonance not every culture]] shares the notion that the sight of [[NippleAndDimed female nipples]] somehow corrupts children, hence the [[Anime/TheLittleMermaid Japanese animated version]] of the classic Hans Christian Anderson tale features bare-chested mermaids. It's also possible to avert the whole issue entirely by having [[OrganicBra scales growing around the chest area,]], extend the "fish" part of the mermaid up to the bustline like a strapless dress, or simply [[BarbieDollAnatomy not draw any nipples at all]].

* Seria from ''Anime/RaveMaster'' has an interesting variation: she wears a bikini top... with a [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/rave_master/v13/c103/7.html shell motif]].

* Issues drawn by Adam Hughes (and some other artists about the same time) of the ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'' and ''Legionnaires'' comics have had seashell bras (and bottoms) indicating nudity (simply assume they aren't there, then the characters' reactions make sense).

[[/folder]]

* In [[http://d1466nnw0ex81e.cloudfront.net/iss/400w/182/191821/875481.jpg one issue]] of ''ComicBook/KatyKeene'', Katy and Sis are mermaids wearing these.

* In an early scene from Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/IWillFearNoEvil'', Eunice and her husband are discussing the mermaid body paint she'll be wearing to work the next day. (Office dress codes having gotten ''really'' casual in the future.) They make a bet over whether a literally painted-on SeashellBra will fool her employer into thinking it's real. (It does.)

* ''Series/FaerieTaleTheatre's'' adaptation of "Literature/TheLittleMermaid" used an interesting scheme: if a mermaid was out of the water (like sitting on the beach for instance), she had GodivaHair, whereas while she was underwater (and thus her hair would be floating around and unable to do its GodivaHair function), she had a SeashellBra, or more specifically, two scallop shells stuck to her chest with no straps whatever, not even one connecting the two shells.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}'', when Gloria washes ashore, she has two starfish on her chest (beside the fact that [[BarbieDollAnatomy there is nothing there to cover]]) and a crab on her crotch ([[GettingCrapPastTheRadar make of that what you will]]).

* In ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'', during Mordecai's dream sequence in the episode "Meat Your Maker", he envisions Margaret wearing one that just [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar ''barely'']] covers her [[UnusualEuphemism lady pecs]].

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': The mermaids in [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Ronno/Renno]]'s underwater village wear sheshells over their breasts, while the mermen just go naked.

Of course, not every culture shares the notion that the sight of [[NippleAndDimed female nipples]] somehow corrupts children, hence the [[Anime/TheLittleMermaid Japanese animated version]] of the classic Hans Christian Anderson tale features bare-chested mermaids. It's also possible to avert the whole issue entirely by having [[OrganicBra scales growing around the chest area,]] or to extend the "fish" part of the mermaid up to the bustline like a strapless dress.

* There is an episode of ''Manga/MaicchinguMachikoSensei'' in which a male teacher imagines the main character as a mermaid with the obligatory seashell bikini.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1327108587004200100
%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.

* [[http://akaichounokoe.deviantart.com/art/Clamshelle-428604756?q=gallery%3AAkaiChounokoe%2F43418904&qo=2 Clamshelle]] is the only one so far wearing a seashelle bra, the other ones usually wear flowers or something akin to a bathing suit top, like [[http://akaichounokoe.deviantart.com/art/Sing-425091997?q=gallery%3AAkaiChounokoe%2F43418904&qo=4 Sing]] or [[http://akaichounokoe.deviantart.com/art/Oyster-Pinkblue-375891269 Oyster]]

* The female mermaids in the shoujo manga ''Mermaid Boys'' have these. Notably, Queen Lorelai, mother of the main character Prince Naru. She, ah, fills them well.

* Lucy in ''Manga/FairyTail'' temporarily turns into a mermaid [[spoiler: when Aquarius takes her and Brandish to the Star Memory.]] She's shown wearing one of these.

* Averted (I bet you're happy to hear this) in the Latvian cartoon Animation/FairyTaleSitsOnTheDoorstep. The main character meets a Mermaid braiding seeweed who's 100% in the nude. No, it's not a case of EuropeansAreKinky, because she's NippleAndDimed.

* Issues drawn by Adam Hughes (and some other artists about the same time) of the ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'' and ''Legionnaires'' comics have had seashell bras (and bottoms) indicating nudity (simply assume they aren't there, then the characters' reactions make sense).

* The mermaid encountered by Superboy (a sort of next-gen Lori Lemaris) in ''Adventure Comics 80 Page Giant''. ComicBook/PostCrisis Lori herself sometimes wears a normal bikini top, but more often has GodivaHair. Pre-ComicBook/{{Crisis|on Infinite Earths}} Lori wore something resembling a blouse or minidress at all times.
* When Namorita, DistaffCounterpart of the ComicBook/SubMariner, turned blue and changed her name to Kymera, she added a net skirt and one seashell "cup" to her bikini-like outfit.

* In the ''[[ComicBook/AdventureTimeGraphicNovels Adventure Time]]'' spin-off graphic novel ''Masked Mayhem'', Lumpy Space Princess and her frenemy Melissa both dress as mermaids with seashell bras at a fancy dress party.

* Complete editions of [[http://centaurore.blogspot.com/2013/04/aurore.html Belgian comics]] ''[[OurCentaursAreDifferent Les Centaures]]'' by Pierre Seron explain that editors suggested the female centaur to wear seashells bras, despite having nothing to do with sea. The author objected she was so young and innocent she had nothing to hide. Europeans are more tolerant for young girls being topless if their breast is not grown yet.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}'', when Gloria washes ashore, she has two starfish on her chest (beside the fact that [[BarbieDollAnatomy there is nothing there to cover]]) and a crab on her crotch ([[GettingCrapPastTheRadar make of that what you will]]).

* The title character of ''Literature/{{Paprika}}'' wears one while briefly in mermaid form.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}'', The Other Forcible wears one dressed as Venus. She's [[FanDisservice an obese old lady]].

* This trope and its aversion was one of the reasons a mermaid character was cut completely from ''Film/TurboAPowerRangersMovie''. She was played by a 15-year-old actress who would have had GodivaHair. Probably not suitable for a family film.

* The Disney Channel Made For TV Movie ''The Thirteenth Year'' has the protagonist's mermaid mother wearing two conch shells over her breasts.

* ''Les 1001 Nuits'' has a scene with Sheherazade (Creator/CatherineZetaJones) [[SexySurfacingShot emerging from the ocean]] wearing only a starfish bra and seashell panties.
* In the 1968 sci-fi B-movie ''Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women'' (which is actually a re-cut of the Soviet sci-fi ''Planeta Bur''), the Venusian natives are [[HumanAliens blonde women]] wearing seashell bras and skin-tight rubber pants.
* ''Film/Hercules1983'' has Cassiopeia dressed in [[FanService thin strips of cloth falling from a collar around her neck]] and (to retain its PG rating) a thong bikini and small sea shells. Even better, she is played by [[MsFanservice Ingrid Anderson]].

* In ''The Copper Promise'' by Jen Williams, it's briefly mentioned that one of the designs Wydrin considered for her tattoo was a mermaid with "giant [[UnusualEuphemism barnacles]]".

* The mermaids in ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'' have a variation where their breasts are covered by strategically-placed scales. Worth noting is that the hair of the actresses playing mermaids was too short to function as GodivaHair.

* The Neireid queen in ''VideoGame/SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters''.
* The Franchise/{{Pokemon}} [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/File:368Gorebyss.png Gorebyss]] appears to have one even though it isn't remotely humanoid.
* Used in ''VideoGame/KingsQuestII''; Graham has to charm a merwoman that's sunning herself on Kolyma's shore.

* Anneta Fish from ''VideoGame/RaymanOrigins'' wears a clamshell ''pasty'' that somehow sticks to her breasts.

* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', the dryads (centaur-like creatures with the upper body of an elf and the lower body of a deer) wear a terrestrial variant, a bra made of leaves (although, as they also have [[PlantPerson plant-like traits]], it may be [[OrganicBra part of their bodies]]). Averted with the female naga (the closest thing the game has to a mermaid), who have breasts covered with scales, or wear the top of a ChainmailBikini.
* Parodied in the ''Videogame/{{Shantae}}'' series via a series of in-character Twitter posts. Shantae takes a bath in a pond, but finds [[GoneSwimmingClothesStolen her clothes missing when she comes back for them.]] Not wanting to run around naked, she tries using whatever she can reach from the water to cover herself, including the wildlife.
-->'''Shantae:''' Well, I've tried wearing all sorts of aquatic creatures and am pretty badly hurt at this point.
** While most mermaids in the series are topless (don't worry, [[NonhumansLackAttributes nothing is shown]]), [[GiantWoman Giga]] [[KingMook Mermaid]] from the fourth game has her chest covered with a pair of shells that are bigger than Shantae herself. When Shantae transforms into a mermaid, she instead has a large starfish clinging to her back with two of its tentacles wrapped around her chest.

* Mermaidyn from ''VideoGame/YokaiWatch'' has a strapless variant. She just has two seashells over her breasts.

* ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'': A top made out of seashells is part of the female variant of the Mermaid Costume that can be randomly given from the Angler. The male variant wears a necklace instead.

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': In one Strong Bad E-mail, SB nicknames a cardboard cutout of a mermaid Princess Shellbra.

* The mermaids in Kate Beaton's ''Webcomic/HarkAVagrant'' wear these. [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=119 Aye, they]] [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=123 be a]] [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=124 sexy omen.]]

* InvokedTrope in ''Webcomic/MerStory'': because dealing daily with a naked mermaid is too distracting, the protagonist Jason asks Aqua to bring him large seashells, with which he makes what he calls the "classical" mermaid seashell bra. Aqua is more amused than anything.

* ''Seires/{{Mortified}}'': The mermaid costume Taylor wears (and almost drowns in) in "Mother in the Nude" incorporates a seashell bra.

[[quoteright:350:[[Disney/TheLittleMermaid https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ariel_bra3_9844.jpg]]]]

Since, by definition, a mermaid is a fish from the waist down, only her top half must be covered, and often GodivaHair just won't do. Thus the seashell bra was invented to preserve the modesty of female merfolk everywhere. You probably think this originated with Disney's ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'', but Disney was using it all the way back in 1953 to depict the mermaids in ''Disney/PeterPan'' (although they looked distinctly less bra-like in those days). Expect bras to also be made out of other marine trappings, such as starfish (though glomping a living creature to one's own body doesn't sound like a good idea in hindsight -- especially if it [[NightmareFuel ejects its stomach and starts digesting your nipples]]) or perhaps seaweed or other vague underwater flora, though the shells are often depicted as somehow clinging magically without any accompanying harnesses or straps, seaweed or otherwise. Also, the bra will almost always be made from scallop shells rather than clam, oyster, conch, or [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:NautilusCutawayLogarithmicSpiral.jpg nautilus shells]] (not unless they are hollowed out).

* Interesting variation in Disney's ''Disney/{{Fantasia}}'', with female centaurs wearing tops and necklaces made out of ''flowers'' that appear to be motivated more by the TheissTitillationTheory than actual modesty, even though the centauresses otherwise exhibit BarbieDollAnatomy...
* ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'' of course, though Ariel is unusual in that her top has a strap. Ursula has octopus flesh go over her chest instead, though. Some people think the overweight mermaid illusion seen in Ursula's song has her chest covered by scales, but looking closely reveals she too wears a Seashell Bra.
* Before ''The Little Mermaid'' there was ''Disney/PeterPan'', whose mermaids sported a motley mix of GodivaHair, seashell bras, and starfish pasties.

** While most mermaids in the series are topless (don't worry, [[NonhumansLackAttributes nothing is shown]]), the [[GiantWoman Giga]] [[KingMook Mermaid]] from the fourth game has her chest covered with a pair of shells which are bigger than Shantae herself.