Viral Optical Illusion Claims Viewers Will See Either 'Fish' Or 'Mermaid,' Yet Everyone Sees 'Donkey' Or 'Seal'

The internet loves a good optical illusion, particularly when there are two clearly defined camps of interpretation. Last weekend, Twitter started having fun with a play on the classic duck-rabbit illusion. Twitter was shown a picture and told they would see either a "fish" or a "mermaid." Somehow, that promise went 0-for-2 for the majority of Twitter users.

The picture was first posted last Tuesday on the Facebook page Audrey Loves Paris, where the account wrote the caption, "If you’re right-brained, you’ll see a fish. If you’re left-brained, you’ll see a mermaid." It's unclear where the science behind that observation came from, but users there swiftly remarked that they were seeing neither of the suggested animals. Instead, most reported they saw a mule or a seal.

On Saturday, the post started circulating on Twitter after musician Jason Isbell shared the image with his take. From there, most users, including a variety of British celebrities, reported they too saw a donkey or a seal. Some less-famous users concluded that they must have "no brain."

While we may never know what prompted Audrey Loves Paris to declare that the optical illusion displayed either a fish or a mermaid, Facebook user Simon Denyer may have come closest to discovering the truth in the original thread, when he commented, "What if I see clickbait?"