Who is the weird creature that appears on the Showhistory masthead?

Nicknamed Pablo, the smiling creature you see on our masthead, is of that odd species we call “Feegee Mermaid.” Some believe he was invented by P.T. Barnum himself, though the ancestors of Pablo’s go back to 17th Century Japan. Cousins of Pablo can still be found exhibited at Ripley’s “Believe It Or Not” museums worldwide. This not-quite-fish, not-quite-simian seems fittingly emblematic of what showhistory itself is– an anomaly that cannot be summed up easily and without great and useless effort.