Israel has been positively abuzz with a slew of mermaid sitings off of its coast.  No, this isn’t a joke.  The Kiryat Yam municipality is taking the reports so seriously it is offering a $1 million reward to anyone who can prove the existence of a mermaid in its waters.  All you need is a verifiable photograph.

“Many people are telling us they are sure they’ve seen a mermaid and they are all independent of each other,” city council spokesman Natti Zilberman said.

This fantastic nautical creature is allegedly only seen at sunset, and it is a proper half girl/half fish that jumps like a dolphin.  It also has a collection of tricks in its crowd pleasing routine.

Although the city council denies that this is a publicity stunt, they freely admitted to Sky News that they are hoping to milk the mermaid to attract tourists eager to catch a glimpse.  I’m not going to say that this is lunacy of the highest order but…yeah…