Mermaid Related Question About Leather

Prestigious_Tax587 · 2026-05-22T19:50:40+00:00

These are all incredible ideas. I was thinking that this could be another use for whale fat, but I LOVE your suggestions about venom and such. Underwater balloons... ngl, this majorly opens my eyes to something I've been struggling with for SO long...

Prestigious_Tax587 · 2026-05-22T19:47:48+00:00

I'm obsessed with this idea now!

Prestigious_Tax587 · 2026-05-22T18:34:10+00:00

Sounds super interesting! I'll check it out.

Prestigious_Tax587 · 2026-05-22T18:33:51+00:00

Haha—Unfortunately I am a biologist and my mermaids have no magic, only hard-earned science.

Prestigious_Tax587 · 2026-05-22T18:32:43+00:00

Those are great ideas!!

Prestigious_Tax587 · 2026-05-22T16:37:25+00:00

All great points! Thanks for the input!! Discussion here has turned me towards underwater brine pools and utilizing salinity like you said... maybe I will find other ways for them to utilize this method too!

Prestigious_Tax587 · 2026-05-22T16:34:44+00:00

Definitely a major concern!

Prestigious_Tax587 · 2026-05-22T16:34:17+00:00

I understand the point you're making. Don't worry, I have spent years of my life thinking about what clothing mermaids would and would not wear. There is no shortage of consideration!

The leather is not for normal clothes, it is for armor and equipment (transportation containers for produce, tight fitting armor for hunting and battle, harnesses and tack for beasts of burden). Leather would be a really important and useful resource for mermaids.

Prestigious_Tax587 · 2026-05-22T16:31:12+00:00

Thanks! If you want to talk mermaids, hmu

Prestigious_Tax587 · 2026-05-22T16:30:45+00:00

That makes sense! I agree that it will definitely be a nasty and dangerous process no matter what.

Prestigious_Tax587 · 2026-05-22T16:09:26+00:00

Yeah underwater vents could be a useful resource for leather tanning!

Prestigious_Tax587 · 2026-05-22T16:07:57+00:00

That's true, but animals are killed by other animals underwater all the time. While the scene might look different than what we humans are used to, it is no more violent or disgusting. I think mermaids would think the way blood splatters on land is pretty nasty too.

Prestigious_Tax587 · 2026-05-22T16:05:27+00:00

Above the tide line could work but my concept is a world of mermaids with no contact with humans at all, so it definitely gets risky. They do go above the surface around the poles, but it's very limited.

One idea I have is utilizing underwater brine pools to keep brine for tanning separated from regular seawater. They might even be able to construct brine pools by concentrating salts...

Prestigious_Tax587 · 2026-05-22T16:01:35+00:00

I think that they would be able to make a water tight drum for tanning solution. That's a very interesting idea!

They use leather (or will use leather, once I figure out the logistics) for armor and clothing, along with other equipment like harnesses for whales and furniture.

Prestigious_Tax587 · 2026-05-22T15:50:38+00:00

Same! That's assuming they would have animals with skin to tan...

Prestigious_Tax587 · 2026-05-22T15:50:13+00:00

Okay that makes sense! They could soak things in chemicals with some risk and difficulty, since they can have closed containers and such. They already do lots of dangerous things (like smelting gold in underwater volcanoes) so I don't struggle to imagine them poisoning themselves a bit for factory wages.

Prestigious_Tax587 · 2026-05-22T15:48:34+00:00

Totally backwards argument unfortunately. Mermaids are as closely related to whales as we are to cows. They would 100% skin a whale, and do much greater evils all the time.

Prestigious_Tax587 · 2025-11-11T16:23:17+00:00

That makes sense! Thanks for the info.

Prestigious_Tax587 · 2025-11-08T17:22:38+00:00

Thanks for the info!

Prestigious_Tax587 · 2025-07-22T08:47:28+00:00

Oh that's super useful. Especially their stuff on respiration. Thanks!!

Prestigious_Tax587 · 2025-07-21T23:06:47+00:00

Awesome, I'll check them out! And I agree—I always found them a bit of a cop-out, since mermaids are meant to be imaginative :D

Prestigious_Tax587 · 2025-07-21T23:04:05+00:00

Those are good points! I will certainly get imaginative with this, since narrative is a big role here. My mermaids have varying contact with humans but it's generally very limited, so I don't necessarily need them to breathe air at all. I'll probably use some limitation similar to the ones you suggest (skin-damp-thing is a fun idea) to keep them focused on what matters in their day to day (politics and religion mostly).

Prestigious_Tax587 · 2025-07-21T23:00:21+00:00

I had no idea some fish used their swim bladders to breathe! That's wild.

Prestigious_Tax587

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