Whoever eats its meat will live for 800 years .. a Japanese "mermaid" with a human face and a fish's tail!

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Scientists are working to unravel the mystery of the mummification of the 300-year-old "mermaid" with a human face, which is said to grant immortality to those who tasted its flesh.

The mysterious 12-inch-long creature is claimed to have been captured in the Pacific Ocean, off the Japanese island of Shikoku, between 1736 and 1741, and is now kept in a temple in the city of Asakuchi.

The "mermaid" has a frightening human appearance, as it appears with a grinning face, pointed teeth and hands, and hair on its head and forehead, but its lower half resembles a fish's tail.

According to the "Russia Today" website, researchers from Kurashiki University of Science and Arts took the mummy for a CT scan, in an attempt to reveal its secrets.

The strange creature could have religious significance, said Hiroshi Kinoshita of the Okayama Folklore Society. "Japanese mermaids have a legend of immortality...It is said that if you eat mermaid meat, you will never die."

He added, "There is a legend in many parts of Japan that a woman accidentally ate mermaid meat and lived 800 years... the legend of Yao Baekuni, also preserved near the temple where the mermaid mummy was found."

"I heard that some people, who believe in the legend, used to eat the scales of mermaid mummies," he added.

Folklore suggests that in the era of COVID-19, the mermaid can also be a bad omen.

"There is also a legend that a mermaid predicted an infectious disease," says Hiroshi.

A historical letter dated 1903, apparently coined by a previous owner, is stored next to the mummy and gives a story about its provenance.

"The mermaid was caught in a fishing net in the sea off Kochi Prefecture. The fishermen who caught it did not know it was a mermaid, but they took it to Osaka and sold it as an unusual fish. My grandparents bought it and kept it as a family treasure," the message read.

It is not clear how and when the mummy came to the Ingwen Temple in Asakuchi.

But the chief priest, Kozen Koida, said it was displayed in a glass case some 40 years ago, and is now kept in a fireproof safe.

"We worshiped it, in the hope that it would help alleviate the coronavirus pandemic, even if only slightly," he told the Japanese newspaper, Asahi Shimbun.

However, Hiroshi Kinoshita of the Okayama Folklore Society takes a more realistic view of the creature.

It is believed to have been made at some point during the Edo period, an era of Japanese history stretching from 1603 to 1867.

"Of course, I don't think it's a real mermaid. I think this was made for export to Europe during the Edo period, or for spectacles in Japan," he said.

He continued, "The legend of mermaids still exists in Europe, China and Japan all over the world. So, I can imagine that people at that time were very interested in them as well. I think they are made from live animals and we would like to learn about them through a CT scan or test DNA".

A similar specimen was shown by Barnum, whose life inspired the 2017 film The Greatest Showman, at his American Museum in New York before it burned down in 1865.

This mummy, which was created from the torso and head of a monkey sewn into the bottom half of a fish, was allegedly caught off the coast of Fiji and later purchased from Japanese sailors.

In Japanese folklore, there is a creature called "ningyo", which is described as having a monkey's mouth with fish-like teeth and a body covered with golden scales.

Scientists examining the mummy will publish their results later this year.

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