The Fiji mermaid was an object composed of the torso and head of a juvenile monkey sewn to the back half of a fish. It was a common feature of sideshows where it was presented as the mummified body of a creature that was supposedly half mammal and half fish, a version of a mermaid. The original had fish scales with animal hair superimposed on its body and pendulous breasts on its chest. The mouth was wide open with its teeth bared. The right hand was against the right cheek, and the left tucked under its lower left jaw. This mermaid was supposedly caught near the Fiji Islands in the South Pacific. Several replicas and variations have also been made and exhibited under similar names and pretexts. P. T. Barnum exhibited the original in Barnum's American Museum in New York in 1842, but it then disappeared—likely destroyed in one of the many fires that destroyed parts of Barnum's collections.
Another "mermaid", made of papier-mâché, from the same collection of Moses Kimball―Harvard University's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
The Banff Merman, similar to a Fiji mermaid, on display at the Indian Trading Post
A merman constructed out of wood carving, and parts of monkey and fish, Booth Museum, Brighton
Phineas Taylor Barnum was an American showman, businessman and politician remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus with James Anthony Bailey.
Barnum in 1851
Entertainers associated with Barnum: Charles Stratton ("General Tom Thumb") and his bride Lavinia Warren, alongside her sister Minnie and George Washington Morrison Nutt ("Commodore Nutt")
Castle Garden, New York, venue of Lind's first American concerts
A parody of Lind's first American tour for Barnum, New York City, October 1850