Conway Mill Trust

These gentle fairy creatures can remove their seal skins, thereby taking on mortal forms of stunningly beautiful men or women with dark eyes and hair, until they put their skins back on, transforming back into seals as they return to the sea. Like merrows, selkies sometimes have webbed fingers or toes. They are compelled to obey anyone who captures their shed seal skins, and because of their beauty, many people have become romantically entangled with selkies. Unfortunately, these romantic stories usually end in tragedy, as a selkies can only dally with a human for a short time before returning to the sea. While in their mortal forms, selkies frequent sea cliffs and sing melancholy songs. The movie The Secret of Roan Inish is a tale of a selkie.