Dear Sara,
Is a mermaid’s purse a handbag that a mermaid uses for shopping?
Curiously, Emma T.
Dear Emma,
A mermaid’s purse, or “devil’s purse,” is the term for the egg case containing the fertilized eggs of a shark or skate. Most fish (and sharks are fish, not mammals) lay eggs rather than bearing live young. Some species of shark expel their fertilized eggs in an egg sac made of collagen protein strands. The size, shape and color of the egg case depend on the species. In the pre-scientific era, those who believed in mermaids, upon finding the empty egg pouches washed up on the shoreline, made creative guesses as to the original ownership of the strange-looking items.
It’s In The Bag,
Sara Bellum, Editor-at-Large Buzzy Mag
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