An object looking like a mummy of a monkey with a fish tail has long been held at a Buddhist temple in western Japan. A group of researchers recently scrutinized the mummy of the so-called mermonkey, which combines the words mermaid with monkey, and says it is an artifact made around the 19th century.

The roughly 30-centimeter object is kept at the Enjuin temple in Okayama Prefecture, along with the description of "a dried merman."

A group of researchers from several organizations, including Kurashiki University of Science and The Arts and Kurashiki Museum of Natural History, examined the object from February last year. The analysis included X-ray photography to examine inside it.

The researchers provided the results at a news conference on Tuesday.

They said that the figure has no skull or ribs, and its upper body is made of paper and cloth. They also said its lower body has features of a fish species inhabiting off Japan's coasts, judging from the shape of the scales and other evidence.

They said the radioactive carbon dating indicates that the object's materials date back to the second half of 19th century.

The researchers said from the viewpoint of folklore, it was apparently made not as an object of worship but for entertainment shows, and later transferred to the temple.