Mermaids can hold their breath for 4 minutes and swim in frigid waters year-round

• the Mermaid, as Emma Harper, trains for six hours a week.
• She can hold her breath for four minutes at a time while diving to 65 feet.
• The 41-year-old from Truro advocates for cleaner oceans and promotes psychological advantages of sea exposure.

A mother of three has dedicated her life to training to become a mermaid, and now she can swim in the open sea all year round and hold her breath for up to four minutes.

Mischief the Mermaid, as Emma Harper, trains for six hours a week in and out of the water to maintain her top physical condition.

The 41-year-old from Cornwall’s Truro spends much of her time swimming in open water, spreading “mermagic” by instructing people in the proper techniques for acting as a mermaid, and also does some modelling on the side.

She can hold her breath for four minutes at a time while diving to a depth of 65 feet in a custom-made silicone tail she has called “Pollock,” and she has plans to improve that to six minutes in the near future.

Emma, together with the Cornish Merpod, advocates for cleaner oceans and promotes the psychological advantages of sea exposure.

The underwater performer, who is 50 years old and married to free diver Craig Harper, has remarked, “I started mermaiding years ago when I did free-diving.

I was the original mermaid who swam into Newquay, spreading the mermaid spores that have now transformed the entire town’s population.

There are many mermaids, but what sets Mischief the Mermaid and Cornish mermaids apart is that we perform in the open water, complete with waves and currents.

In my opinion, this is our best chance to raise public awareness about oceans and their importance in order to make people more cautious when near the water.

There is a lot of eye-rolling when we bring up the issue of mermaiding, and people tend to believe that I’m just a woman who likes to dress up for fun (as in, cosplaying).

“We are mermaids because we have a beating heart; I dive joyfully to depths of twenty metres; I spend the vast majority of my time in the ocean; therefore, mermaids exist in my mind.”

I’ve managed four minutes without breathing, but I’d like to increase that to six!

Even as a small girl, Emma spent countless hours in the ocean, often sitting on the sand and squeaking like Madison in the 1984 film Splash.

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