
A cecaelia (pronounced as seh-SAY-lee-ahh; though unrelated to the Latin-originated name Cecilia) is a composite mythical being, appearing occasionally in art and literature (notably from Japan), combining the head, arms and torso of a woman (more rarely a man) and, from the lower torso down, the tentacles of an octopus or squid, as a form of mermaid or sea demon. The term derives primarily from the distorted mispronounced name of a character/story title from a black-and-white comic in Vampirella Magazine featured in the early 1970s which shows a woman/octopus hybrid character called "Cilia".
