Mermaid

In his effort to help the Admiralty pursue its war against Napoleon with greater success, Mr. Norrell confers the power of speech upon the wooden effigy of a mermaid, the figurehead of a captured French ship. She has been at a number of enemy ports and dockyards in France and thus has a great deal of useful information to tell. At first she stoutly declines to help the British, from patriotic motives; later however she is suborned by the persuasions of a handsome captain[12].

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Mermaids (more of them here) have been part of magic lore forever: in fact, the oldest recorded merpeople were known as sirens (Greece) and it is in warmer waters that we find the beautiful mermaids for frequently depicted in literature and painting. 
  The selkies of Scotland and the Merrows of Ireland are less beautiful, but they share that love of music which is common to all merpeople.
  Mermaids can breathe above the waves for a time, but it is unclear if they can ever truly leave their habitat.
 
 

[File:http://www.thefeejeemermaid.com/Ocruelsea2.jpg These pictures taken before the Australian coast seem to suggest that breathing pure polluted oxigen isn't a mermaid's forte.]

These pictures taken before the Australian coast seem to suggest that breathing pure polluted oxigen isn't a mermaid's forte.

[File:http://www.thefeejeemermaid.com/Ocruelsea1.jpg If the poor thing had only remembered that salvation was the other way around...But they sure can sing!]

If the poor thing had only remembered that salvation was the other way around...But they sure can sing!

Species information
Sentience	Sapient
Eye colour	Varies
Skin colour	Varies
Hair colour	Varies
Related to	Sub-species Siren Selkie Merrow
Native range	Originally Greece, now found worldwide
Alternative names	Mermaids
Height of average adult	Varies
Distinction(s)	Fish-like attributes Water-inhabitant