The Sentinels no business but gold

"Umm... no. Those gals prefer to show themselves to men. They sing beautifully to lure get their attention and, when they are in the water, they grab them and... well, depends, what your taste in stories are. In one scenario, they get eaten. In the other - their souls get stolen and taken away. In the merriest - men are taken to the land of merfolk, where they are catered, groomed and loved forever and ever and ever," Wraen explained. 

"So, I suggest that, if you hear alluring singing coming from the waters - run to the woods," she chuckled. "But there is another story from a different part of the world about merefolk. They look a lot like seals and they shed their skin, when they come ashore, and hide it somewhere, while they roam the lands. There's a tale of a man, who fell in love with a beautiful mere-woman, and in order to keep her, stole and hid her pelt. She remained with him, bore him many children, but her gaze was always turned to the sea, where her brothers and sisters played and sang.

Many years later one of her kids accidentally found her mother's pelt and came down asking her, what it was. Without hesitation or a goodbye the woman grabbed her pelt and returned to her folk. While the man and the children were left mourning the mother they had lost," Wraen told. 

Story is not mine - Kópakonan (Seal Woman) from Faroe Islands.