Long, shiny hair, a beautiful voice, a naked torso with barely covered breasts – seamlessly transitioning into an animal body, with scales, fur, feathers or claws, mixing seduction with threat, crossing seemingly clear-cut boundaries between species. Mermaids, Selkies, Sirens and other female hybrid creatures have populated the imaginative seascape for centuries and are still popular in contemporary fiction. The beach is where these merfolk bodies become visible, where the hybridity of the landscape reflects the hybridity of the body. Drawing on the Blue Humanities, Animal, Gender and Critical Body Studies, this project hopes to contribute to understanding how embodied hybridity in merfolk literature serves as a means of resistance and engenders possible counter-narratives to hegemonic patriarchal power structures. These sustain narratives of dominance not only within relationships between humans, but also with the more-than-human. Tales of merfolk alienate the naturalised hierarchies between gender and species and muddle up the persistent nature/culture divide. Ultimately, they may envision alternative conceptions of co-living in a world where current power structures threaten the existence of all beings.