The female sea creature from Greek mythology that lures sailors with her song is a siren.
In the oldest Greek stories, sirens were female humanlike beings whose irresistible voices drew sailors toward danger. Their best-known appearance is in Homer’s Odyssey, where Odysseus wants to hear their song without abandoning his ship. Following Circe’s advice, his crew block their ears with beeswax and bind him to the mast so he cannot steer toward the singers.
Early Greek and classical art often showed sirens as women with bird features, including wings or bird legs, rather than as fish-tailed mermaids. Over time, medieval writers and artists merged siren imagery with mermaid traditions. That later combination explains why modern illustrations frequently give sirens fish tails.
The song’s danger was not merely physical seduction. In Homer, the sirens promise knowledge of past and future, appealing to Odysseus’s curiosity. The modern expression “siren song” therefore means an attractive invitation that may lead to harm. Sirens should not be confused with naiads, who are freshwater nymphs, or harpies, winged female beings associated with storms and torment.