the thought actually just hit me. i realize it's just a movie, but it's kinda illogical. i like how they rectified this in Finding Nemo when the fish can't breathe on the surface and have to take a "breath" under water. :P

I always just assumed that as she's half fish and half human she had both gills and lungs, meaning breathing in either environment would be possible. Gills on her tail (which in animation wouldn't be visible, just like her scales aren't visible) and lungs in her chest. I'm not sure that's right, but it's what I assumed as a child
:)

Well, just keep in mind that this is an animated movie with talking fish, crabs, and birds, starring a mermaid princess, so it can't all be scientifically accurate. I mean, in Atlantica they speak English, and write in English. How does that make sense?

Asvini, that's brilliant! i like it.
rfq-155, thank you. i realize it's a movie. i just asked for the sake of conversation. that's why i put "possible" in quotation marks, because obviously it would never actually be possible.

i orginally had "even though it's just a movie" at the end of my question, but fanpop made me shorten it because it said the question was too long.

i agree with asvinu, gills and lungs

lol funny you should mention. I did think about it when I was younger but like Asvini I just assumed she was amphibious. HOWEVER i did draw an anatomical cross section picture of a mermaid for a science class. I always put their gills under the fold of their breasts so it was closest to the lungs (course my mermaids were always topless and Ariel would suffocate with her bra on). So I had perfectly rationalized why she could breathe...I was more concerned with how she could talk underwater.

Well shes a mermaid soo we dont exactly know how theyd live :S lol, i just assumed they can breathe both underwater and out of.

LoL your answers are awesome. :P

Oh come on its a movie for gods sake I mean take Enchanted for example how in the hell did Giselle get into the manhole that leads to NY city?. As for TLM she is a mermaid and she lives underwater so she's used to it .

The top half of her is human so she probably has lungs and gills

It's not a good question, but it never bothered me. I wish there was a middle option.

Becuase, hello, that's the whole point of the magical creature that is the mermaid. They are part fish and part human. Hence, they breathe above and below water.

And if we're gonna pick at the logic of children's animated movies, how is it that fish and humans speak the same language? And how does an octopus have magic powers? I'd go on, but I'm annoying myself with the questions.

middle option added! :D

I also just assumed that since she was half human, she'd also have lungs to breathe above water.

I've been pondering it for years. Like how in 99 bottles of beer on the wall. although I've been hearing about bottles of POP on the wall, like, WTH? When I was little I didn't give a hoot about what was IN the bottles, I was always wondering you they got them ON THE WALL. How do you get bottles on a wall, anyway?

I suppose since she is half human, half fish, her human half has lungs as well as gills. Or the lungs are built to withstand water and air. But I wonder how long mermaids like Ariel can stay out of the water. I mean she was able to drag Eric across the beach and she could sing to him without any real effort. But it's good to note her fish portion is bound to dry out if she stays on land without any water around