The Atlanteans

• First published 1939

The Atlanteans are a humanoid species that has diverged from the Homo Sapiens species, entirely adapted to underwater life. The scientific name is Homo mermani (singular: Homo mermanus) or Homo sireni (singular: Homo sirenus). Physically, they have the same characteristics as humans - in particular, they are mammals. Their size is very variable, between 4 feet and 6 feet 8 inches on average). Certain differences or adaptations have appeared in order to adapt their entire morphology to their living conditions in the ocean depths. Their skin is blue, except for mixed-race people. They have gills, instead of lungs, whose openings are located at the bottom of their neck, near the clavicle. They have a stereoscopic vision that allows them to see perfectly through muddy or dimly lit waters of the depths; their vision is particularly sensitive to the blue/green portion of the light spectrum. The density of their bodies is much greater than that of the peoples on the surface, in order to allow them to withstand the immense pressures of the ocean depths but also the variations in pressure by swimming from one depth towards another; this gives them a strength about 10 times greater compared to a surface man. They are currently scattered across the oceans and the surface (a large number of them is installed in Utopia, off the coast of San Francisco). In the past, they inhabited Atlantis (at the center of the Atlantic Ocean), or the city of Tha-Korr (Antarctic Ocean).