What would humans look like if they evolved to live underwater?

Human bodies would be bigger to limit heat loss. They would likely grow webbed fingers and toes. Eventually, people would have fused legs and larger eyes. They’d look quite a bit like mermaids!

What happens if humans live in water?

For reasons that still aren’t well understood, human skin starts to break down after continuous immersion in water of a few days. You’d suffer open sores and be liable to fungal and bacterial infections just from the spores on your skin, even if the water itself was perfectly sterile.

Are there humans who live underwater?

Living underwater is actually possible, and you could be moving to an underwater city in the near future. The idea of humans living underwater may not be as crazy as you think. An idea once reserved for video games or science fiction, underwater cities may be a viable solution for humanity in the distant future.

Would an underwater city be possible?

There are architects already working on underwater city plans. Architects at the Shimizu Corporation have already designed a $26 billion project to create an underwater city. The underwater city could become a reality by around 2030.

How long can a human survive in the ocean?

Assuming you’re in warm waters and wearing a wetsuit and life vest, you could potentially survive for as many as three to five days, at which point you’ll most likely succumb to dehydration. That is, unless a shark gets you first.

Can humans evolve wings?

Virtually impossible. To even begin to evolve in that direction, our species would need to be subject to some sort of selective pressure that would favour the development of proto-wings, which we’re not. If our wings evolved from arms, we would become much clumsier and lose the benefit of our hands.

What would humans look like if they lived underwater?

For that reason, if we wanted to live underwater, we would need a lot of physical changes. Fortunately for us, scientists have described several ways that humans would appear in an underwater world. Starting with the theory with the lighter changes, humans would have longer fingers with skin connections between each finger.

What would happen if humans were aquatic?

If humans were aquatic, we’d be very slow swimmers, with our unwebbed fingers and toes, so a lot more of us would be eaten, if we ever ventured out alone. Human communities would tend to live in cracks and fissures along the ocean floor, venturing out only to set traps for other fish, and to gather in the fish we caught.

How did humans evolve to breathe underwater?

Regular foraging in shallow waters could lead us to develop artificial ‘gills’ to help us breathe, extracting oxygen from the water and delivering it to the bloodstream. We might also evolve an extra translucent eyelid to protect the eyes from water.

How would humans adapt to a ‘water world’?

To adapt to a ‘water world’, Dr Skinner expects humans would develop webbed hands and eyes like those of cats to help us see in the poor lighting conditions underwater. We would also retain a layer of baby fat into adulthood as an insulator for spending long periods submerged.