A North Wales aquarium\u2019s search for a mermaid has attracted the attention of TV and Hollywood stars.<\/p>\n
A professional American mermaid and a representative for Daryl Hannah from the iconic movie Splash!\u00a0 have both got in touch with Rhyl\u2019s SeaQuarium about their unusual job offer.<\/p>\n
The aquarium is looking for its very own resident mermaid to swim with some of the sharks, rays and conger eels in their ocean tunnel tank.<\/p>\n
Californian-based Linden Wolbert has already registered her interest in the job which will involve wearing a specially made costume and engaging with visitors while hand-feeding many of the fish on display.<\/p>\n
Linden travels around the world working as a real-life mer-girl and appears regularly in television programmes, commercials and music videos.<\/p>\n
She contacted the SeaQuarium in Rhyl, after hearing about their advert in the UK\u2019s DIVE magazine for a professional mermaid .<\/p>\n
The trained freediver can hold her breath for around five minutes and has a custom made prosthetic tail built by a Hollywood special effects artist.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am curious what the going rate is for this fintastic mermaid gig, and am all gills to hear more!\u201d she said to the Rhyl aquarium, on the north-east coast of Wales.<\/p>\n
But she wasn\u2019t the only star to be interested in the job\u2019s de\u201dtails\u201d, which require anyone applying must be a qualified PADI scuba-diver..<\/p>\n
A representative for Daryl Hannah, who starred as a mermaid alongside Tom Hanks in the classic 80s romantic-comedy Splash!, contacted the SeaQuarium to explain that as a PADI certified diver she certainly had all the necessary qualifications.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately though the famous actress, who is a keen campaigner on environmental issues, may struggle to fit any North Wales mermaid duties into her diary.<\/p>\n
The SeaQuarium\u2019s displays manager, Paul Tyson said he would be delighted to have the Holywood star or Linden Wolbert as the aquarium\u2019s professional mermaid.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019d face some pretty tough competition though as we\u2019ve been inundated with requests,\u201d said Paul.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo far we\u2019ve had interest from all sorts of people – students, marine biologists, professional divers, paintball marshals, the lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we\u2019ve not just had people from all over the UK apply but from all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d like some more male applicants though, as we don\u2019t mind if it\u2019s a mer-man or a mer-girl that gets the job\u201d Paul said.<\/p>\n
The mermaid\u2019s duties at the Rhyl aquarium won\u2019t all be glamorous though.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not all going to be about sitting around looking good – as a qualified diver our mermaid will have to help out with cleaning some of the 50 square metres of glass that make-up the inside of our ocean eco-system tank,\u201d Paul added.<\/p>\n
For more information or to apply to become the SeaQuarium\u2019s mermaid get in-touch with Paul by emailing paul.tyson@seaquarium.co.uk<\/a> .<\/p>\n Applicants need to be available during next year\u2019s Easter holidays, be enthusiastic about marine life as well as being scuba-dive qualified to PADI \u2013 Professional Association of Diving Instructors \u2013 open water standard.<\/p>\n Closing date for initial enquiries is November 5, 2010.<\/p>\n