idk what they would do for live births

This question has always stressed me out. I’ve always thought about this. I’d like to think they have live births but there’s no way that’s possible lol.

I mean they're bottom half is a fish, so they don't really have the anatomy for live birth...Unless they do sea section heh

Yeah probably eggs.

If mermaids were real, they would very likely give live birth because they would be mammals. Because of their human half they are warm-blooded and have hair like mammals. They'd likely give live birth the same way dolphins and whales do. But I guess it could be possible for them to be mammals and lay eggs just like a platypus but the eggs would look like bigger fish eggs.

i....how would live births actually work anatomically?
or mermaid sex, for that matter.

I agree with KataraLover, they are so mammalian that I think they would give birth to live young, and it would be similar to dolphins etc. I'd say they have some sort of vulva/cloaca in their tails. And then the young are breastfed obviously.

But I wonder how many babies they have at a time? Ariel has 6 sisters and she is the youngest, but how much older than her is the oldest? Some of them must be multiple births, or her mother must have been having a baby every single year.

Well curious about this myself I googled it. This is what I found.

"Well, if they're as related to pelagic fish as they appear, mermaids and mermen would all have a slit, about halfway down their fin, from which they would release their eggs and sperm, respectively. ... Mermaids and mermen have these big reproductive parties."
A Marine Biologist's theory: link

"Contrary to popular belief, mermaids are not human or fish at all. They are mammals with the appearance of a human being above the pelvis and the appearance of dolphins or whales below. All mammals are warm-blooded and have hair, and all female mammals have mammary glands (breast and nipples for feeding young). Fish have a completely different anatomy. Mermaids do appear to have scales, but it is possible that this is in fact a pattern or camouflage that resemble scales. In mermaids, reproduction is much like that of dolphins. The reproductive organs of both the male and female are akin to the dolphin and whale, and mermaid babies are born live (as opposed to hatched from eggs)."
Another theory: link

@JungleQueen13: Original released material on ages: Aquata - 22, Andrina - 21, Arista - 20, Attina - 19, Adella - 18, Alana - 17 and Ariel - 16. Ariel's Beginning altered canon: Attina - 21, Alana - 20, Adella - 19, Aquata - 18, Arista - 17, Andrina - 16 and Ariel - 15.

I can't really imagine a baby mermaid breaking its way out of an egg.