Sirenomelia (Mermaid Malformation)

"Sirenomelia is sporadic defect in about 1 of 60,000 newborn infants, more often in males, and it is more common in one of identical twins. It is a severe developmental field defect of the posterior axis caudal blastema, resulting in apparent fusion of the lower limb buds."

Potter's Pathology of the Fetus and Infant
Edited by Enid Gilbert-Barnes
Mosby 1996

from the Gross Specimens collection, courtesy of AUBMC, Department of Pathology

Photography by Børre Ludvigsen, July 1997