Tail Man is a company which provides realistic mermaid

Mermaid

A mermaid is a mythological aquatic creature with a female human head, arms, and torso and the tail of a fish. A male version of a mermaid is known as a "merman" and in general both males and females are known as "merfolk"...

 tails for television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

, movie

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

s, magazine

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

s, commercials and promotional events.

The notable Neiman Marcus

Neiman Marcus

Neiman Marcus, formerly Neiman-Marcus, is a luxury specialty retail department store operated by the Neiman Marcus Group in the United States. The company is headquartered in the One Marcus Square building in Downtown Dallas, Texas, and competes with other department stores such as Saks Fifth...

 Christmas catalog offered the tails in their 2003 catalog for US$10,000, including swimming lessons in Los Angeles. The tail also comes with a video, for those less willing to travel. The tails are custom made to the purchaser's size, and generally size around 5.5 feet long.

According to the New York Post's

New York Post

The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...

 Bridget Harrison

Bridget Harrison

Bridget Harrison is a freelance journalist and editor based in London who contributes to The Times, Daily Mail, Red Magazine and BBC Radio London. She has also written for Elle, Grazia, Sunday Time Style, GQ, Cosmopolitan among others...

, on trying on a tail, "The tail is made exactly to your body measurements - and it's literally a skintight fit. Just to get it on requires a good amount of undignified heaving and wiggling." It took 10 minutes for Harrison to "get it over my butt." http://www.mermaidrentals.com/neyk_pst.htm

In October 2003, Tail Man's tails were featured on a segment of The Today Show.

As polyurethane

Polyurethane

A polyurethane is any polymer composed of a chain of organic units joined by carbamate links. Polyurethane polymers are formed through step-growth polymerization, by reacting a monomer with another monomer in the presence of a catalyst.Polyurethanes are...

is neutrally buoyant (it neither sinks nor floats), maneuvering in water is relatively easy. It is also strong enough that it doesn't tear on rocks.