Mermaid chomped by fish addresses the rumour bosses ‘threatened’ her to stay silent

Towards the end of January, Russian mermaid Mariia Zelenina went viral after a fish violently chomped down on her head during a performance of her underwater show in China.

The video has been widely shared across Twitter and TikTok, racking up millions of views and concerned comments as people wonder how much she was compensated for the fishy kiss. The fish in question, a critically endangered Chinese sturgeon, could be seen swimming behind Mariia moments before he snapped its jaws around her head.

Now, she’s spoken about the experience in an interview with PEOPLE.

mermaid lady in a fish water tank getting her head chomped by a fish aquarium underwater eat bite munch maybe it was bored idk

deep sea girl by yuuyu p ft. hatsune miku pic.twitter.com/bXHYxpfEcv

— vocaloid edits (@vocaloidedits) January 30, 2025

The mermaid’s bosses did not threaten her, she revealed

Mariia, known while performing as Masha, was rushed to hospital after the fish attacked her at Xishuangbanna Primitive Forest Park on January 31.

“We had a show,” she recalled. “I did the first solo, another girl was waiting for me to do my solo. I almost finished it and was supposed to surface, but a fish pounced on me. I didn’t understand what was going on, I began to push her away and get out of her mouth. When I surfaced, I realized that I didn’t have glasses.”

Luckily, besides a few minor bumps and bruises, Mariia was left unscathed and isn’t afraid to get back in the water once the doctor gives her the all-clear.

“I feel good. I remember this situation as a joke. I wasn’t afraid of these fish,” she noted.

When the story initially broke, there were rumours that her bosses forced her back to work and even threatened her to keep silent. Mariia has denied this, saying “Foreigners are treated very well here.”

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Explaining, she added: “They also write that my superiors threatened me, but that’s not the case either. Of course, they didn’t want the whole country to know about it, but it was inevitable. It was unexpected. Of course, I was scared, but a lot of things can happen in life and you need to treat it with humour.”

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