How do Merfolk "walk" (or otherwise use their land speed)?

[Goaty14]

As the title: How do Merfolk walk? For the life of me I just can't figure it out, nor think of any sort of justification that works for me. I mean, their tail is too short to move like a snake, and some sort of jumping method (like a fish flopping around on land, only precise enough to actually go somewhere) is just too silly for me.

So, how do they get around? Thoughts and ideas appreciated
P.S. "Get a pair of legs" is not appreciated

[InvisibleBison]

They drag themselves around with their arms, presumably.

[Lemmy]

I assume they just slither around like clumsy snakes... Sure, their tails are too short, but small limbs never stopped dragons and fey from flying.

[hymer]

They make as if to move, and then there's a cut, or the camera pans away. When we see them again, they've already arrived.

[Knaight]

The easiest way to express this sort of motion is by a video, so - take a look at some footage of mudskipper walking. It's basically an arm pull mixed with elements of fish flopping, but managing to not look completely ineffective and stupid. It's still slow, but merfolk don't tend to be the fastest on land anyways.

[DavidSh]

Or you could model them off seals. The eared seals (sea lions and fur seals) in particular are surprisingly mobile on land. This may not work so well with the traditional fish tail

[Lemmy]

Or you could model them off seals. The eared seals (sea lions and fur seals) in particular are surprisingly mobile on land. This may not work so well with the traditional fish tail

Well... The way mermaids are more often depicted, their movements are actually closer to seals than actual fish... Not by coincidence, since the human actresses playing those mermaids are closer to other mammals than to fish in the evolutionary scale.

[Knaight]

Well... The way mermaids are more often depicted, their movements are actually closer to seals than actual fish... Not by coincidence, since the human actresses playing those mermaids are closer to other mammals than to fish in the evolutionary scale.

Even in animation where that isn't a concern you still tend to get angles more like whales or seals than fish. Up and down movement is common, and I'm not entirely sure I've ever seen fish like side to side movement in a visual depiction of a mermaid.

[hamishspence]

Even in animation where that isn't a concern you still tend to get angles more like whales or seals than fish. Up and down movement is common, and I'm not entirely sure I've ever seen fish like side to side movement in a visual depiction of a mermaid.

Harry Potter mermaids in the Goblet of Fire movie did have side-to-side - the tail was very sharklike.