What would mermaids, underwater weaponry and underwater farming look like if they evolved naturally?

An artist called NazRigar actually made a concept for animals domesticated by merfolk.

Here we go again. Sharks are a terrible choice for a domesticated animal. Ask yourself where all the Tiger farms are.

Also, don't confuse trainable for domesticated. Tigers aren't domesticated, but they are highly trainable. Chickens are highly domesticated, but train poorly.

Domestication is really all about return on investment, or in this case, return on feed and labor. "Return" is mostly some sort of animal product that can be sold or traded for profit. You domesticate an animal by breeding it, not training it.

Now whales are an interesting possibility. Lots of meat, and they just eat plankton. Seals maybe. Sea Cows obviously. Grouper. Not sure about Sea Turtles.

Any other ideas?

I can see sharks being more like dogs, better use as a companions, guards, or hunting partner, not as livestock. Especially since evidence points to sharks being more intelligent and sociable than initially thought.

Edited by Kaiseror on Feb 27th 2024 at 2:40:23 PM

Sharks are like the cats of the ocean.

They'll do whatever they want and sometimes they'll move up to you for head-pats but only for as long as they want them. Also, if you've proven yourself harmless, they will recognize you the next time you enter their territory and greet you accordingly.

I can see mermaids and sharks get along like outdoor-cats and people do.

There is a difference between tamed, domesticated and trained.

Even to tame a creature is difficult. You would probably have to capture it just to keep it from swimming away. A lot of fish, including most sharks have to constantly swim in order to breath. That makes putting them in an enclosure difficult. Then there is the question of how one communicates with them. People have trained fish in fish tanks to do tricks, but professional marine animal training seems to involve exclusively marine mammals.

I think domestication by merfolk would tend more to raising animals for food than having pets. Still a big problem is building an enclosure. Whales might make tempting beasts of burden, but might have it's own problems.

Underwater farming is interesting and the idea of domesticated seaweed etc. would be interesting. I don't know much about edible sea plants though.

I'm not sure domesticating whales would really be viable. Mainly due to their tremendous size and slow reproductive rate. There's also the fact that you'd only be able to raise them in the open ocean, whereas I'd imagine most forms of agriculture would be in coasts and shallow seas. Going back to sharks, some sharks will actually go up to people they recognize and accept physical affection from them, with some actually acting in a jealous or territorial manor to other sharks who approach that human. For an being that spends all their life in the ocean, I could see this becoming more complex.

Maybe, but bears do the same thing, but try keeping large numbers of them on a farm. Where's the profit for the risk?

As for whales, you can breed them smaller, less mobile, and faster reproduction. Smaller whales like the Pilots already live in aquariums, so the change isn't that great.

Edited by DeMarquis on Mar 1st 2024 at 6:15:06 AM

I'm not talking about farms. I don't think dogs or cats were first domesticated on farms. They likely started out befriending specific people or families which made them more used to being around people overall, which their offspring would be born into and further refine the process over the generations while the less people friendly ones would keep their distance or be chased off. I'd see domesticated sharks following a similar path.

As for the whales, when I imagine them as livestock, I assume people are thinking about baleen whales since they feed on things like plankton or krill which the mermaids would be less likely to eat themselves. The issue with pilot whales is that they eat fish, which would make keeping them as livestock highly inefficient. Especially when the merfolk could just catch/farm the fish themselves.

Edited by Kaiseror on Mar 1st 2024 at 6:05:35 AM

If a farm-fish is required, the Mahi Mahi fish is the optimal choice.

Their growth-rate is astounding.

One year from birth and they're already four feet long and weighing 40 pounds.

How much do they eat?

The adult fish: 5.6% of their body weight on a daily basis.

Small fish growing up: 20% of their current weight, daily.

Though the issue with Mahi Machi is that they're a pelagic predatory fish. They do feed on plankton, but that only makes up a portion of their diet, the rest is things like small fish and crustaceans. I could see a nomadic civilization herding these fish for food with things that the merfolk don't eat themselves, but I'd imagine herding anything in an open water environment would be tricky at the best of times.

They're also carnivorous, can swim at 50 knots, are occasionally cannibals, viciously territorial, and generally have a bad attitude. Not exactly an easy fish to farm but obviously very rewarding.

A big factor is where the merfolk live. If they are mostly stationary and live in shallow waters near land, then are going to have a hard time with large animals that travel far distances and swim deep. If the merfolk are capable of swimming as deep as whales and holding their breath just as long, then they might even tame big ones.

Elephants aren't domesticated, because they are so hard to breed. Elephants used as work animals are caught in the wild. Whales could be used similarly. However, if the merfolk can't breathe water, then I don't see how they can keep up with traveling whales. And if they are sedentary, then what do they need whales for? Or sharks? Sincere questions.

With the sharks, as I've mentioned before, could be used more like dogs. Guards, attack animals, or even companions.

And again, Sharks don't meet the bare minimum requirements for domestication. You might be able to train them but it's going to be pretty hard.

The closest thing I can see merfolk pull off in regards to sharks, is coming to a mutual agreement with them.

"Okay. I'll give you fish in ONE SPECIFIC SPOT, okay? Go there and leave our fish-farms/babies alone!"

And for the last part, I can imagine several lethal incidents occurring with merfolk-infants as they have the shape and size of seals.

Comparing sharks to dogs is just silly, really.