The Wider Image: Splash! Life as a mermaid
A mermaid lesson takes place in Rio de Janeiro. Dressed in costume with a long, shiny green tail, Catan chats with young patients and "they feel included, cherished ... It is a very beautiful and gratifying thing." Catan says she has been fond of mermaids since childhood, when she practiced swimming with her legs joined. Inspiration came from the 1984 movie "Splash," starring Daryl Hannah as a mermaid with flowing blond hair and a long red tail. "It was not the long hair ... it was really that huge tail that she had," says Catan. "I thought it was incredible." Catan practices every day and can spend up to four minutes underwater between breaths when she is in peak condition.
REUTERS/Pilar Olivares