The Sea Creatures are background characters featured in the Little Mermaid franchise, first introduced in the original 1989 Little Mermaid film. They are aquatic animals that frequently appear in various media and merchandise inspired by the franchise.
Background[]
The sea creatures consist of various species of generic unnamed aquatic animals ranging from vertebrates to invertebrates aside from merpeople. Most of the sea creatures seen throughout the franchise consist of various marine animals representing aquatic fauna to give the Little Mermaid franchise an aquatic theme ranging from mainly fish. Besides Flounder, most of the generic unnamed fish seen throughout the franchise have a wide variety of designs and colors where their designs can vary throughout the film as well as the franchise. Besides the fish, other marine species throughout the franchise can also consist of whales, dolphins, crabs, sea snails, starfish, octopuses, seahorses, jellyfish, and various other marine species as well as seabirds encountered in various parts of the ocean throughout the franchise often found in various locations where they are often seen swimming in the background, as well as the marine ambience (specifically non-anthropomorphic corals, anemones, polyps, etc.) seen in the background. The species of sea creatures can vary depending on which media they appear.
Appearances[]
The Little Mermaid[]
At the opening of the film, seagulls are seen flying in the sky while a pod of dolphins is seen leaping happily on the surface while the musical number "Fathoms Below" begins as the seagulls and dolphins retreat from an incoming ship just as they see various sailors singing and catching fish with one of them showing Eric the fish he caught. Throughout the song, a single fish that was caught by one of the sailors who was talking to Grimsby falls into the water and swims just as the song ends. As the fish happily sighs that he is safe from the sailors, he swims across the ocean passing by sea anemones, angelfish, jellyfish, whales, merpeople, and other sea creatures on their way to attend King Triton's concert in the underwater kingdom of Atlantica. As the concert begins, trumpetfish perform a fanfare while a seahorse presents King Triton and his chariot of dolphins just as fish and dolphins are gathered to witness Triton's arrival just as the crowd cheers, followed by Sebastian and his chariot of goldfish. As Sebastian arrives, he conducts an orchestra consisting of fish and an octopus (and a frog) playing an introduction number as the musical number "Daughters of Triton" begins with King Triton's daughters singing their part only for Ariel to be absent during the concert, much to the crowd's shock.
Meanwhile, Ariel and Flounder arrive at the area where the encounter a sunken ship while Flounder warns her that there might be sharks in the area. All of a sudden, Glut the Shark chases the two across the ship which the two manage to escape from him, causing the shark to be trapped onto an anchor, leaving him unable to move. After Ariel talks to Scuttle about the things she found, two nearby eels, Flotsam and Jetsam, see Ariel and Flounder from a distance while Ursula sees them inside her crystal ball while eating an innocent shrimp as Ursula feels humiliated that she was banished and exiled to her lair, just as Ursula commands her fellow eels to watch over Ariel.
The next day after Ariel saves Prince Eric from drowning during a storm, green fish can be seen in the background when Ariel passes by her sisters and her father King Triton before encountering Sebastian who tells her to spend her life under the sea. During the musical number "Under the Sea", Sebastian sings to Ariel to know how life under the sea is better than spending life at the surface to which various yellow fish swim around Ariel and as Sebastian tells Ariel of why she should stay in her ocean home, he encounters a lobster playing clams as steel drums singing about how fish feel comfortable spending their lives in the ocean or in fish bowls just as a dolphin passes through happily swimming while another large fish appears surrounded by a bubble. As Sebastian pops the bubble, the fish lands on a flat coral singing his line about the fate of fish being served as food as Sebastian sings his lines that no one should cook or eat fish while Ariel happily interacts with seahorses who happily swim around her. Sebastian then inserts three fishing hooks inside a clam's mouth which it spits out the hooks showing that hooks are a threat to fish. As Sebastian continues singing, four sea snails sing along while many fish, jellyfish, octopuses, and slugs appear in front of Ariel and perform with Sebastian singing as four slugs appear in front of the screen. Later, a sturgeon encounters a manta ray happily interacting with instruments feeling the rhythm.
Throughout the song, various creatures are seen happily performing during the musical number such as a newt, several fish, octopuses, rays, and jellyfish just as a blowfish inhales on a coral, inflating itself. Later, Flounder swims past various fish, octopuses, jellyfish, seahorses, snails, lobsters, and sea turtles happily dancing, just as another fish pulls Flounder using a stranded seaweed just as the fish attempts to make him dance with her and as he sees Ariel, he secretly whispers to her, telling her that it's her chance to escape, as the sea creatures are unaware that Ariel is gone. As the song continues, Sebastian continues performing with more fish, jellyfish, lobsters, clams, snails, octopuses, clams, starfish, slugs, and shrimp together. As the song ends, the sea creatures - consisting of fish, dolphins, a manta ray, a snail, and two starfish arrive at the spot where Ariel was at, only to find Ariel gone which they all suddenly leave.
After King Triton destroys Ariel's treasures in her grotto and Ariel cries when her father destroys the statue of Prince Eric, Flotsam and Jetsam, Ursula's eels, take them to see their owner as she plans to become a human to which during the musical number "Poor Unfortunate Souls", one of the ingredients Ursula places to transform Ariel into a human is a blue jellyfish, followed by Ariel signing her name on Ursula's contract so she transforms from mermaid to human, which also results in Ariel's voice being taken away.
Later at Prince Eric's mansion, Sebastian enters Chef Louis' kitchen where he sees fish, octopuses, and crabs being used as food, fearing that the human world is dangerous; meanwhile, Carlotta discusses with Grimsby telling him that Chef Louis is preparing stuffed crab for his dinner. Suddenly, Louis sings the musical number "Les Poissons", singing of how he prepares seafood by cooking fish much to Sebastian reacting upon seeing Louis cooking fish while he attempts to cook Sebastian, which he manages to foil Louis in his kitchen to avoid ending up as a steamed crab; Sebastian ends up hiding in a serving container served to Grimsby while Ariel tells him to hide in hers which Sebastian manages to escape from being dinner.
Furthermore when Scuttle plans to stop the wedding between Eric and Vanessa, starfish, lobsters, seals, and dolphins follow alongside the swallows, flamingos, and pelicans who are planning to stop the wedding. Throughout the wedding, seals leap onto the boat to scare away the guests while pelicans deploy fish and lobsters, one of them who pinches Vanessa's nose, to attack her, followed by starfish swarming Vanessa. More seals then bounce Vanessa on their noses using her as a ball, knocking her into the wedding cake. Later, dolphins leap onto the boat and spray water at Vanessa and Scuttle angrily squawks at her to which throughout the plan, Max bites Vanessa, who is attempting to prevent Scuttle from pulling Ursula's shell out of her neck, successfully dislodging the shell, resulting it to be broken and Ariel's voice returning to her. The sea creatures then retreat from Ursula.
After Ursula was killed by Eric who impales her steering a broken ship to cause the broken mast to impale her, the merfolk turned into polyps transform into their normal forms. Later at the end of the film, a dolphin is seen with the other merfolk witnessing the wedding between Ariel and Eric during the finale reprise of "Part of Your World" just as the residents of the ocean bid a farewell to Ariel and Eric who get married and live happily ever after.
The Little Mermaid: The Series[]
Various sea creatures have appeared in numerous episodes of the animated series based on the animated film often serving as incidental characters in the prequel series, which has debuted in 1992. Although many have minor roles in the series, certain sea creatures have speaking roles voiced by multiple actors where their roles can vary depending on which episode they appear.
The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea[]
Following the birth of Ariel's daughter Melody, depictions of a scallop, a whale, a seahorse, a dolphin, a crab, and a fish are displayed on her mobile during the musical number "Down to the Sea". Later, sentient flying fish are seen leaping out of the ocean just as one of them tells a sea turtle and other creatures to witness Ariel's arrival just as Sebastian conducts an orchestra of sea creatures (some of which previously appeared during the song "Under the Sea") as part of celebrating the birth of Ariel's daughter. As the song continues, cuttlefish swim by while a turtle carries a group singing snails on its back while a line of starfish dance along just as the sea creatures and the merpeople head to the surface to see Melody just as they all celebrate. The celebration was disrupted when Ursula's sister, Morgana, riding on a pair of manta rays, Cloak and Dagger, arrives, followed by Morgana planning to feed Melody to her loyal tiger shark Undertow which Ariel, Eric, and King Triton defend Melody from Morgana, just as Undertow (who was shrunk into the size of a piranha) and Cloak and Dagger retreat. Hearing about this earlier, Ariel tells her father that Melody cannot have any contact with the sea nor can she remember the merpeople nor Atlantica (including its inhabitants) just as Sebastian is assigned to watch over Melody, followed by a massive wall placed on the castle to separate the castle from the ocean.
Later when Sebastian goes underwater, feeling uncomfortable of babysitting another teenager, he passes by a group of clams, followed by Melody (now a teenager) interacting with a dolphin underwater just as Sebastian is happy to see Melody having contact with the ocean, despite the restrictions from her parents which Sebastian realizes about what Ariel and King Triton told her. Just as Melody continues having fun swimming underwater, many kinds of fish pass by and a member of a school of yellow fish greets her, followed by the dolphin collecting a seashell for her bag and later the locket for Ariel which she got when she was a baby, unaware of the strict rules and the wall between the castle and the sea.
Far away from Atlantica in an ice cave, Morgana plans to give Undertow (in the size of a piranha) his normal size but the form accidentally turns him into a shrimp before he could return to normal, resulting in a failure. She then places a potion with a green sea urchin in it on her cauldron to transform Undertow to his normal size only to transform into a snail instead. Frustrated, Morgana adds more potions containing other sea creatures to her cauldron to transform Undertow back to his normal size, only to turn into several mutated sea creatures and later back to his diminutive size. As Morgana remembers that Ursula and her mother tried to criticize her (with their mother's criticism being over Ursula being better than Morgana) when Undertow thought that Ursula could've been able to change him back, she grabs a starfish from her jar of starfish and then throws the starfish at the picture of her older sister (which already had several starfishes pinned around the picture) just as the two get into an argument over who's fault for their current position.
That evening, a pair of fish and a dolphin can be seen leaping out of the water while seagulls can be seen flying in the sky in the background just as before Melody goes into the party where she gets herself dressed for the party. After Melody tells her mother that she got her locket at the bottom of the sea, Ariel becomes furious with her and scolds her for disobeying the rules, to which according to the rules, Melody is forbidden to remember the merpeople or Atlantica (and its inhabitants) which Melody, very upset after having the argument with her mother, returns to the sea, much to Sebastian's worry that Morgana might capture her like she did when she was a baby just as Melody accepts Undertow's request to visit Morgana in her ice cave. Just as Melody enters, Morgana serves her a plate of seafood which Melody decides not to eat, just as Melody tries to ask Morgana about the name on her locket.
After Morgana transformed Melody into a mermaid, she encounters a mother seal and her three pups who curiously observe Melody in her mermaid form just before singing "For a Moment". Throughout the song, Melody encounters a giant clam underwater and then leaps with two narwhals leaping out of the water happily, a sea turtle whom she dances with, and a school of fish while Ariel sings her part where a few jellyfish can be seen swimming upwards. Back with Melody, she swims with three seal pups, followed by Melody riding on a blue whale across the ocean just before returning to Morgana, telling her that she wants to be a mermaid rather than a human.
Later, Melody continues riding on the whale in a plan for her to bring her back to Atlantica. During that time the whale swam above some seaweed, tickling the bottom of his stomach until he sneezes, causing his blowhole to accidentally blast Melody off of him and her map to help her get back to Atlantica to break as she lands on an icy platform due to the map being made of ice. Meanwhile, Melody hears a mother penguin worried of her chick about to be eaten by a hammerhead shark just as the other penguins work together to get the baby penguin to safety, followed by Tip and Dash, consisting of a penguin and a walrus, planning to rescue the penguin in distress. Seeing the shark below them, Tip and Dash frantically scramble, causing the other penguins to fall onto the platform where the shark was surrounding the baby penguin. The hammerhead shark attempts to eat the penguins, alongside Tip and Dash, but leaps onto the platform to flip them onto an icy cliff, causing it to fall onto the shark. Suddenly, the mother penguin and the other penguins are furious with Tip and Dash for almost having them killed by the shark just before Tip and Dash walk away sadly. Later throughout the musical number "Tip and Dash", Tip encounters a goldfish and a barracuda while singing his part, followed by Tip, Dash, and Melody wearing a starfish, an urchin, and an anemone on their heads respectively just as Tip swims past fish, jellyfish (also using one as a parachute) to return to the ocean. Tip is later seen dueling a crab while Dash is seen observing a group of kissing fish while on a sunken ship just as the musical number continues with Melody's encounter with Tip and Dash as the two suddenly lead Melody to Atlantica.
Later during the climax of the film where Morgana is planning to take over the oceans, King Triton rides his chariot of dolphins followed by an army of mermen following their ruler while confronting Morgana planning to stop her from gaining power to rule the oceans. Morgana turns Undertow into his original size, a menacing shark, followed by Cloak and Dagger dragging Eric underwater. During the battle, Sebastian rescues Eric from Cloak and Dagger while Undertow surrounds Tip and Dash just as Undertow breaks through the ice wall where Melody and Flounder are trapped, followed by Undertow slamming himself onto a wall, losing his consciousness and teeth, and later Cloak and Dagger getting their tails tied up by Sebastian, just as they get trapped onto an icicle, foiling them. Later, Morgana then plans to rule over the ocean as part of her evil plans which Melody snatches the trident from Morgana, confronting her for her betrayal just as she delivers the trident to King Triton, just as Melody's grandfather freezes Morgana into a block of ice, causing her to sink into the bottom of the ocean.
With Morgana defeated, Melody gives her family a better idea just as she uses her grandfather's trident to remove the wall separating the castle from the ocean which her grandfather placed earlier so that everyone can be together. Having done so, Sebastian sings the musical number "Here on the Land and Sea" where he and the other sea creatures celebrate together with the humans on the castle just as Melody reconciles with her mother as the sea creatures (including the whale), the merfolk, and the other inhabitants of the castle celebrate in harmony living happily ever after.
The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning[]
A group of fish are first seen during the prologue sequence swimming in the background which Sebastian is narrating, followed by a group of trumpetfish announcing King Triton's arrival just as the fish and merpeople live in the kingdom of Atlantica under his rule. However, after Queen Athena, Triton's mother, is killed after being struck by a pirate ship, Triton brought a strict ban on music, causing the residents of Atlantica to no longer play music. Ten years later when Atlantica remained the same, a school of fish is seen swimming in the background, followed by two seals swimming in the background as well. Ariel, who wakes up, sees two seahorses outside her sisters' home just as Marina Del Rey and her manatee sidekick Benjamin wake up the rest of Ariel's sisters. Later, Sebastian rides a chariot of goldfish swimming past a group of swordfish serving as King Triton's guards just as Sebastian checks in with Triton to see how everything is doing just as Ariel and her sisters approach their father. Meanwhile, Benjamin is feeding snacks to a group of sea creatures in their den while he approaches Marina who is planning to take revenge against Sebastian.
Meanwhile, as Ariel attempts to pull away a barnacle from an arch, she becomes exhausted, only for her to encounter a yellow guppy who introduces himself as "Flounder" and as Ariel approaches him, she observes Flounder making music on the corals as it reminds Ariel of the music she enjoyed when she was little before her father banned music. However, before Flounder can continue playing music, two swordfish warn him that all music is forbidden in the kingdom under orders of King Triton just as the two escape from the swordfish swimming past various corals, a cave, and into Atlantica just as the guards tell Sebastian that Flounder was making music, which Ariel tells them that this is a misunderstanding just as the swordfish escort Ariel to the palace. That night, Ariel sees Flounder hiding from the swordfish planning to escape from Atlantica just as Ariel follows her out of Atlantica into a patch of kelp and later through a hidden passage just Flounder enters a room where a fish swims out of it sadly. Ariel finds herself in an underground club where she sees the clams opening and closing their mouths together, followed by shrimp, fish, rays, slugs, seahorses, crabs, starfish, and others dancing along just as the Catfish Club Band, a band of sea creatures consisting of Cheeks (a pufferfish), Ink Spot (an octopus), Shelbow (a sea turtle), and Ray-Ray (a manta ray), perform together during the musical number "Jump in the Line (Shake Senora)" as the sea creatures dance along with Sebastian. As Ariel approaches Sebastian, the other creatures retreat in fear, thinking that Ariel is going to punish them, which Ariel did nothing wrong. Just as Ariel sings "I Remember", the other sea creatures happily react to her beautiful singing just as the sea creatures watch her singing while others play music, much to Sebastian's worry. After singing, Ariel approaches Swifty, a shrimp, who gives her an offer in lending a helping hand for music lovers which Ariel accepts.
Later when Ariel talks to her sisters telling her about her experience with music listening to the sea creatures playing with music in the underground club reminding of her late mother, Ariel and her sisters arrive at the area where they performed earlier. Meanwhile, more other creatures dance with the Catfish Club Band who performs in front of the crowd of sea creatures, alongside Ariel's sisters happily enjoy their moment at the underground club while Ariel dances with Flounder throughout the club while Marina who suddenly arrives watches the performance just before Ariel and her sisters return home while Marina privately talks with King Triton about the music his daughters have discovered. Suddenly, Triton and his guards burst into the club, frightening away the sea creatures from the club while the swordfish surround the Catfish Club Band and Flounder, just as Triton orders his guards to lock them in a dungeon just as Ariel and her sister return home with Triton blocks the entrance to the underground club. Later, a whale and several other fish are seen during a fantasy sequence during a reprise of "Just One Mistake" while a fish postman tells her that she has a new dress for her just as he privately talks with Benjamin while Marina enjoys wearing her new dress.
Meanwhile, Ariel approaches Sebastian, Flounder, and the Catfish Club Band who are in jail which she frees them after explaining to Sebastian that without music, Atlantica would never be the same. Having escorted the sea creatures out of their cell, Flounder continues to scat so that he can make music, unaware of the laws enforced by the king which Flounder continues to scat instead, just as the Catfish Club Band members sing along singing a reprise of "Jump in the Line (Shake Senora)" having fun together in singing along. Meanwhile, after Benjamin noticed that Ariel is missing, Triton sends a group of swordfish to search for his daughter to make sure she is safe. Later, Marina demands Benjamin to give her the key, which he refuses and when she tricks Benjamin during her argument, she grabs Benjamin's key to unlock the door to unleash a group of eels in a plan to take revenge against Sebastian and Ariel as Benjamin realizes of her betrayal just as the electric eels swims are tasked to kill Ariel and Sebastian.
Meanwhile, when Ariel, Flounder, and Sebastian interact with the electric eels camouflaged as kelp, Marina sends in the eels to kill the three to which during the ambush, the eels chase Ariel and Flounder across the ocean while Sebastian attempts to throw starfish at Marina using them as shuriken which Marina fights back. Ray-Ray, Ink Spot, Shelbow, and Cheeks work together in fighting off the eels. As Sebastian sees an eel chasing Flounder, more eels surround Ariel and the Catfish Club Band members, which Flounder and Sebastian work together in tying up the eels to foil them, leaving the eels unable to attack, followed by Ariel defending Sebastian from Marina only for the latter to hit Ariel, severely injuring her; the music box that plays Athena's song manages to revive Ariel as Triton remembers the song his wife used to sing to him before his wife died just as Ariel reunites with her father. The Catfish Club Band members do a group hug with Flounder afterwards.
Back at home, Triton gives an announcement to the sea creatures and merfolk of Atlantica, telling them that he has allowed music to return to the kingdom of Atlantica just as everyone celebrates with Sebastian promoted as court composer. Sebastian tells Swifty who is playing cards with a crab, to speak to Triton about continuing the celebration which as the shrimp asks him to do so, Triton agrees, causing everyone to celebrate with music back at the kingdom, followed by Marina and Benjamin later being arrested. Throughout the musical number "I Will Sing", the sea creatures and merfolk to continue their celebration of music back at the kingdom once again in rejoice.
LEGO Disney Princess: The Castle Quest[]
During the part where Ariel and Moana are caught in a storm, a dolphin rescues Ariel while the Ocean guides Moana across the water in a plan to help them find the Magic Carpet. As the two reach an island, Ariel thanks the dolphin for helping her just as it leaves while Moana thanks the Ocean for helping her.
Live-action appearances[]
The Little Mermaid (2023)[]
The sea creatures appear in the 2023 live-action reimagining of the classic film.
At the beginning of the film, a group of sailors onboard Eric's ship attempt to hunt down a mermaid only for a dolphin to appear instead. Later when Grimsby's telescope falls into the ocean, the camera proceeds further down into the ocean where various sorts of sea creatures are encountered such as fish, sea turtles, polyps, swordfish, whales, and other marine creatures just as mermaids appear before looping to the scene where King Triton is introduced. During Triton's presentation, a school of fish appear and swim away to make way for the king introducing his daughters who are all present, except for Ariel.
Meanwhile, Ariel and Flounder arrive at the area where they encounter a sunken ship while Flounder warns her that there might be sharks in the area. All of a sudden, a great white shark, Glut, chases the two across the ship which the two manage to escape from him, causing the shark to be trapped onto an anchor, leaving him unable to move. Suddenly, Scuttle dives underwater, tasting a sardine just as Ariel talks to her about the things she found. Meanwhile, two nearby eels, Flotsam and Jetsam, see Ariel swimming as Ursula sees her inside her crystal ball while eating an innocent shrimp as Ursula feels humiliated that she was banished and exiled to her lair, just as Ursula commands her fellow eels to watch over Ariel.
During the musical number "Under the Sea", Sebastian sings to Ariel of how life under the sea is better than anything on the surface in to which during the song, he jumps on a rock to lift it, causing a school of fish to swim around Ariel. After the fish leave, a group of seahorses swim around Ariel just as Sebastian continues to sing to her which Ariel tries to get away just as Sebastian tries to get her attention. Ariel then swims with a pod of dolphins happily interacting with one of them while Sebastian who hanging onto another dolphin dismounts out of it. As Sebastian sings to Ariel of how human activities are dangerous to fish, she then rides on a blanket octopus across a coral reef which she dismounts out of it just as she lands into a large forest of pink jellyfish which Ariel feels comfortable adjusting her life under the sea. As Ariel sings with Sebastian, the latter leaps onto more jellyfish as the two continue to sing. Above the two, a school of sardines make way for a group of manta rays to swim past the jellyfish where one of them swims past a group of jellyfish carrying Ariel. As the song continues, Ariel and Sebastian find themselves riding on sea turtles crawling on sand happily reacting to the music, followed by more turtles joining in while manatees swim by. As Sebastian continues to sing, brittle stars stand on the seafloor where they dance together while Ariel interacts with a pufferfish which inflates itself.
Throughout an instrumental montage, a group of sea lilies swim by and dance with Ariel, alongside a group of flying gurnards as they happily interact and dance with Ariel. She then encounters a group of limpets dancing on a rock while kelp dance in the background. Elsewhere, a large group of Spanish dancers and mimic octopuses swim and dance with each other while a jellyfish carries Ariel into a dark alcove (with Sebastian standing on top of its head) where she encounters various sorts of jellyfish (including bioluminescent ones) dancing inside.
Ariel then finds herself in another reef where various sorts of marine life continue to dance with her throughout the song while Sebastian continues to sing. Amongst the creatures swimming and dancing with them are sea lilies, flying gurnards, limpets, kelp, Spanish dancers, mimic octopuses, ribbon eels, jellyfish, brittle stars, manta rays, dolphins, and other assorted fish throughout the montage. As the song continues, the sea creatures continue dancing with Sebastian as Ariel feels comfortable of her life under the sea. However, Ariel suddenly disappears after the song ends as Sebastian and the other sea creatures notice that Ariel escaped, much to Sebastian's disappointment. The other sea creatures then leave afterwards.
As Ariel returns home, she interacts with a group of guppies only for Ariel to approach her sisters who tell her about humans being a threat to all merpeople, especially to all oceans as King Triton enforces a rule that humans are a threat to all merfolk. Elsewhere, a big fish consumes a small fish in another scene while a merman reports to Triton that he found Sebastian who approaches Triton as Sebastian tells Triton about Ariel's obsession with human stuff, much to Triton feeling angry about this.
Later when Ariel follows Flotsam and Jetsam into Ursula's lair, she encounters monstrous polyps that act hostile towards her which she plans to avoid them. Two jellyfish can be seen in the background floating by themselves while Ursula uses a frogfish to give her powder just before singing the musical number "Poor Unfortunate Souls" to give Ariel an opportunity to change her fate.
The next day when a fisherman named Joshua catches Ariel, he plans to take her to Eric's castle while placing Sebastian in a crate full of captured fish (Sebastian manages to escape though). When Ariel is taken to the castle, she then sees artwork of captured fish on a wall which she is curious to know if the human world is kind or dangerous during the musical number "For the First Time".
Later, when Scuttle sees that Vanessa is actually Ursula in disguise, two fish can be seen swimming in the background via mirror, showing an image of Ursula on it. Unlike what happened in the original film, the sea creatures did not take part in the scene where Scuttle plans to stall the wedding, as it shows Scuttle facing Vanessa by herself, which she takes Ursula's shell necklace and then smashes it, resulting Ursula to transform into a gigantic sea monster. After Ursula is killed, the merpeople who were turned into polyps transform into their normal selves.
The next day, a school of fish is seen swimming in their background while Triton alerts Sebastian that he wants to talk about his daughter who wants to fall in love with Eric to which in the aftermath, Ariel finally marries Eric as she goes on a tour around the world with them while bidding a farewell to the residents of the ocean and the residents of Eric's castle, followed by peace being brought between the ocean and the land respectively.
During the end credits, various sea creatures can be seen swimming in the background while the song "Under the Sea" plays, consisting of assorted fish, pufferfish, jellyfish, brittle stars, and sea lilies.
Disney Parks[]
The sea creatures have appeared in many attractions in the Disney Parks, mostly in attractions inspired by The Little Mermaid.
Disneyland Resort[]
The sea creatures appear in the former Disneyland parade Mickey's Soundsational Parade where they are seen in the Little Mermaid-themed float consisting of actors representing sea creatures, as well as consisting of a float decorated with sea creatures on it.
In the former California Adventure restaurant, Ariel's Grotto (now Lamplight Lounge as of 2018), which was located at Paradise Pier, sea creatures also appeared as decorations throughout the restaurant giving it an underwater theme prior to the area being redesigned as "Pixar Pier". They also appeared in the former King Triton's Carousel of the Sea (now Jessie's Critter Carousel as of 2019) attraction in the aforementioned area as well where guests were able ride on them. This attraction consisted of 56 sea creatures native to the Pacific Ocean and California coast such as seahorses, flying fish, whales, dolphins, sea lions, otters, and garibaldis as well as two undersea chariots.
The sea creatures also appear in the dark ride The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure where they are seen dancing with Sebastian and Ariel during the "Under the Sea" sequence where they are seen in animatronic form. They are seen at the end of the attraction celebrating the wedding of Ariel and Prince Eric.
Walt Disney World[]
In animated form, an eel takes part during the end of the "Part of Your World" sequence where Donald Duck attempts to fall in love with Ariel only to lock lips with a flirtatious electric eel in Mickey's PhilharMagic, causing Donald to be electrocuted upon kissing it, just before he tries to get Ariel's attention.
In Disney's Hollywood Studios, sea creatures also appeared as puppets in the former Voyage of The Little Mermaid show as well as appearing through animated projections.
Tokyo Disney Resort[]
The Mermaid Lagoon area at Tokyo DisneySea based on The Little Mermaid franchise features various sorts of sea creatures seen throughout the interior of the area. In addition to these, certain attractions also named after sea creatures are featured throughout the area, such as Jumpin' Jellyfish, Flounder's Flying Fish Coaster, or Blowfish Balloon Race.
Disneyland Paris[]
The former Animagique show depicted puppet versions of Sebastian and various sea creatures singing along with Sebastian to the song "Under the Sea" similar to the one used in the "Voyage of the Little Mermaid" show in Disney's Hollywood Studios.
Hong Kong Disneyland[]
A music box depicting the "Under the Sea" sequence appears in the Garden of the Little Mermaid area as the last scene from the Fairy Tale Forest area. When activated with the bronze crank, the light shines on the underwater scene, causing the scene to be animated with Sebastian conducting an orchestra of sea creatures while the song "Under the Sea" plays.
Shanghai Disneyland[]
The sea creatures are encountered in the boat ride "Voyage to the Crystal Grotto" where the they are seen in The Little Mermaid display where the song "Under the Sea" plays, followed by an instrumental rendition of "Part of Your World".
Trivia[]
- During the part where Sebastian conducts an orchestra of sea creatures which begins the "Daughters of Triton" musical number, a frog can be seen using seashells as cymbals along with an octopus and some fish. In real life, frogs are amphibious creatures which need to survive on land. It is possible that it is an underwater variant of a frog.
- Also in the "Under the Sea" sequence, a newt somehow appeared during the middle part of the song. Newts in real life are also amphibious creatures which need to survive on land. It is also possible that it could be an underwater variant of a newt.
- At least 12 known species of fish are mentioned in the song "Under the Sea", the fish mentioned are a mix between freshwater and marine.
- An odd fish that appears during the end of the "Under the Sea" musical number wearing glasses has a striking resemblance to Henry Limpet in his fish form in the 1964 Warner Bros. film, The Incredible Mr. Limpet. Whether this design was intentional or not is unknown.
- Curiously, Warner Bros. distributed The Little Mermaid throughout Europe at the time of the film's release.
- The manta rays depicted in the franchise have eyes located on their cephalic horns, unlike in real life where their eyes are located between them anatomically.
- The starfish depicted in the franchise mostly have eyes located on their torsos unlike their real-life counterparts where their eyes are located at the tip of each arm anatomically.
- Additionally, most bivalves (such as clams) are depicted having two eyes inside their mouth, whereas most of them lack eyes in real life, although some species of bivalves do have eyes in real life such as giant clams.
- The way the limpets and the Spanish dancers and mimic octopuses dance in the 2023 version of Under the Sea were respectively reminiscent to the mushrooms and the pansies and thistles from the Nutcracker Suite segment of Fantasia.
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