In West African folklore, the water spirit often depicted as a mermaid and capable of benevolence or harm is Mami Wata.
Mami Wata is a widely known water spirit or goddess associated with parts of West, Central, and southern Africa, as well as the African diaspora. Her name is commonly connected with English-derived “mother water” expressions in African creole languages. Traditions differ considerably, so Mami Wata is better understood as a family of related images and beliefs than as one fixed character.
She may grant wealth, healing, fertility, beauty, wisdom, or spiritual insight, yet she can also be seductive, dangerous, or punitive. Mirrors, snakes, flowing hair, and foreign luxury goods frequently appear in her iconography. In some regions, depictions were influenced by European mermaids and a nineteenth-century European image of a snake charmer.
She is sometimes confused with La Sirène, Oshun, or Yemoja. Those figures can share water associations or diaspora connections, but they belong to distinct religious traditions and histories.