LET’S get one thing clear: Outside of Disney movies and splashy shows at hotel pools, there are no such things as mermaids.

And yet … how do you explain the fuss over Animal Planet’s "Mermaids: The New Evidence"? The phony documentary premiered May 26 to the cable network’s largest audience ever: 3.6 million viewers. And judging from the social media buzz that followed, why were so many people willing to consider the admittedly fake evidence presented during the program by actors posing as experts?

Network hyperbole in promoting the special and its "never-before-seen footage" no doubt played a role in attracting viewers, along with a willingness by some to embrace psuedoscience. But most likely it’s because we love make-believe and the idea of a hidden, magical world.

"I think people by and large are reliving their childhood memories of ‘fairies in the garden,’" said Andrew Rossiter, director of the Waikiki Aquarium. "And I think the average population is very poorly versed in biology and what is actually out there. There are far more interesting things that are real than mermaids."

"Mermaids: The New Evidence," is a follow-up to Animal Planet’s 2012 special "Mermaids: The Body Found," which also scored high ratings. Both specials are hoaxes that went to great lengths to resemble real documentaries, including use of "exclusive interviews" with a bearded marine biologist identified as "former NOAA scientist Dr. Paul Robertson" who is said to have led the "investigation" into mermaids.

A disclaimer at the end of the program mentions that some parts of the show are fictional but does not clarify that Robertson is not a real person and is played by an actor. (Animal Planet’s publicity department confirmed this in an email to the Star-Advertiser.)

The 2012 mermaid special stirred enough interest — and confusion — about the subject to push the real NOAA Fisheries agency to issue a statement acknowledging a long-held fascination with the half-human, half-fish creatures dating back to 30,000-year-old cave paintings.

BUT ARE mermaids real? "No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found," NOAA firmly stated.

Rossiter said the "original mermaids were either seals or sea lions, and when ancient sailors saw them, the seals would come out of the water with seaweed on their heads and they thought it was hair. And when you’ve been at sea for several months, anything looks good."

He is as certain as NOAA Fisheries that they reside only in the realm of myth. "There has never been anything cited in any of the scientific literature about mermaids, and it’s almost impossible that a creature like that could exist."

The closest thing to a mermaid in Hawaiian lore is the mo‘o, according to Noelle M.K.Y. Kahanu, director of community affairs at Bishop Museum.

"These are kupua (demigods) who could shift between their lizard form and human and who often guarded fresh water or brackish water ponds and waterways," she said in an email.

Mo‘o most often are women, though not exclusively. "They are considered protectors of our natural resources who did battle with intrusive human or spiritual forces," Kahanu said.

Along with fellow scientists, Paul Nachtigall, director of the Marine Mammal Research Program at the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Marine Biology, asserts mermaids are "absolutely not in the realm of possibility. They just don’t have evidence."

He says he doesn’t have a problem with Animal Planet’s attempt to pass off its entertaining mermaid specials as documentaries. (After all, this is the network that brought us "Finding Bigfoot.")

"People are interested in what’s fun and interesting and exciting. It doesn’t bother me. People are going to watch whatever they want to watch," Nachtigall said.

"I think it’s pretty fascinating that we have whales and dolphins. That’s pretty interesting, but (mermaids) make a nice story."

Nachtigall knows a little something about mysterious creatures of the deep. He was at the Naval Ocean Systems Center laboratory when a Navy research vessel discovered a new shark species, dubbed "megamouth," off Kaneohe in 1976.

"No one knew what it was," he said. "There are still things to be seen, but they aren’t likely to be mermaids."