In pics: Want to meet mermaids? You might find one in your local community pool

In recent years, a growing number have gleefully flocked to mermaid conventions and competitions, formed local groups called “pods,” launched mermaid magazines and poured their savings into a multimillion-dollar mermaid tail industry, as reported by AP.

Mermaiding is the practice of swimming in a mermaid tail costume. Mermaiding is often seen as a form of extreme cosplay due to the nature of crafting the tails and other prosthetics used by practitioners.

Mermaiding is a fast-growing sport worldwide, there are various schools all over the world to teach it -- the "Merschool". Before diving in, students each slip on a brightly coloured fabric tail ending in a monofin.

As reported by AFP, a mermaiding instructor Izelle Nair says, "It's lots of fun." 
"It's for fitness, it's for fun, it's for fantasy, it's therapy -- but most of all, mermaiding is a sport," she added.
 

In the water, students undulate up and down the pool perfecting their dolphin kicks, or practise sculling -- hand movements to propel the body also used in synchronised swimming. "We swim with a dolphin technique and we use sculling, and then we put it all together and we work out a little sequence," Nair says.
 

To be a mermaid or merman all that is required is a little technique, some breath-holding skills and a love of costumes. 
 

Nadia Walker, another mermaid coach from the world of synchronised swimming, says both sports have much in common.
"The back rolls, some of the warm-ups and activities that we do, come from swimming," she says.