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There are fresh water Sirens, and mermaids aren't as beautiful or as benevolent as many stories make them out to be. There's also such thing as a Kelpie, which sometimes takes human form and doesn't always lead unfortunate souls to their doom in horse shape, and these can be either sea water or fresh water.

Also, just because mythology claims one thing, does not make it correct. Much of mythology has been watered down, dissolved, forgotten or changed by Christian scholars and writers over the years. Some supernaturals were turned from benevolent spirits into demons because anything that wasn't an angel was obviously a demon, and sometimes creatures that were malevolent were changed into something a little less frightening in order to please the minds of children. Consider this: the original Sleeping Beauty fairy tale consisted of the Princess Rosebud NOT being woken from her death-like slumber by a kiss, but of her eventual prince taking advantage of her slumbering state in an inappropriate manner and then riding away back to his own kingdom once he was finished. What woke her was NOT a sweet kiss from her "true-love", but her suckling babes, and as she's WANDERING confused and alone, DISORIENTED from being asleep for over a thousand years, she happens upon her children's father's kingdom and we (the readers) discover that Prince Charming is ALREADY married to another woman, whom is EXTREMELY upset that her husband would dare turn from her AND once she finds the other woman in her kingdom, tries to do away with her. She's eventually murdered accidentally by her husband's one-night-stand and him and Rosebud get married in the end.

This is a MUCH different version than the one that everyone knows and many people consider as the mainstream. Disney animated the Brothers' Grimm adaptation, not the original tale that was spread word of mouth. So, because we know that this happens with fairy tales, imagine how it goes with faerie mythology. "I don't want my daughter/son to be afraid of doing this thing… so I'll change the story a bit, so that it's something else…" or "I WANT my son/daughter to be afraid of this thing, so I'll change the story a bit so that it does THIS,".

Technically, a Mermaid IS a Siren and functions in much of the same manner, sitting up on rocks and singing men to their doom or running their ships aground if they're not paying attention to what they're doing. Mermaids have also been known to crush the life out of their victims, or drag them underneath the water, drowning them and in some cases consuming them, depending upon the legend and area in which is arose. Mermaids have also been known to drag their prey beneath the ocean and take them to their castles beneath the water in order to make them into slaves, servants or husbands, depending. The very first mermaid account was given in Assyria circa 1000BC, and because Mermaids were so much LIKE Greek Sirens, the two myths were combined. Therefore, a Mermaid IS a Siren.

Mermaids have the capabilities of swimming up into freshwater rivers and streams into freshwater lakes and live there for ages, or in such a case as exists in the Netherlands in a tale called The Legend of the Mermaid of Edam, there was a severe storm and a mermaid was washed into Lake Purmer through a hole in the dyke. "She did not wear clothes, but she was covered with seaweed and moss. She searched for food at the bottom of the lake." Which, sounds a great deal like the statue and story that was posed in your first post. Therefore, Lorelei could have been a mermaid that accidentally/on purpose managed to get herself stuck in the Rhine, and was unable to get herself out.

But, Lorelei honestly sounds more like a Morgen. Morgens are FRESH water spirits that predominantly exist in Welsh and Breton myths. They drown men, sing ships ashore or to their doom and "are eternally young, and like sirens they sit in the water and comb their hair seductively". There are legends of Morgens that exist from Glastonbury all the way to Somerset, and they have been known to be blamed for heavy flooding and destroying of crops in many old village tales. So, Lorelei sounds more like a Morgen than she sounds like a Mermaid OR a Siren.

@rush I'm pretty sure Ashy just explained how a mermaid IS a siren.

I personally don't like mermaids/sirens, they sound like they can't be trusted and almost always have malicious intentions. If I were on a ship and saw a beautiful mermaid I would probably throw a tomato at her. Just sayin'.

By the way, are there mermen?

Here is Mr E's quick take on this discussion:

The separation of those different species that were mentioned would be similar to the separation between a horse, donkey, or even a zebra.   Sirens, even though they appear the same as a mermaid from the waist up, have a significantly different tail. The siren's tail is a double tail like the Starbucks logo and the mermaid has only one, you know, what people normally think of when they hear the word mermaid.

Sirens are more aggressive than the average mer.  They don't like humans and they sometimes draw them away from their territory (to their death) by using their siren voice.  Truthfully, mermaids aren't necessarily human-friendly either and can go either way but with sirens their interaction with humans is almost always negative. 

Both mermaids and sirens tend to mainly inhabit salt water but mer (mermen and mermaids) can sometimes be found in fresh water while Sirens are only found in saltwater.  For instance, there are mer in at least one of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan (near us).  The only reason they can be there is if there is a waterway that is somehow connected to the ocean in order to travel from one place to the other.  With Lake Michigan for example, they travel from the ocean, into the Gulf of Mexico, into the Mississippi River and from there, through the Illinois Waterway, into Lake Michigan.

Now, as to the  Lorelei, the Rhine River empties into the North Sea at the Netherlands so it is entirely possible that she could be a mermaid.  (Note: he's not that familiar with the legend about her but he was wondering if the hair combing was just incidental instead of done on purpose to lure humans.)

There is a smaller, semi-aquatic, freshwater being similar to the mer which is known as a Gherring but they wouldn't be confused with mer because of their size.  These beings have tails like mermaids, are about 5-7" tall and also have wings similar to pixies.

Both male and female mer tend to have a similar attitude towards humans. Mermen are more protective and aren't as interactively friendly to humans but are as friendly to elves as the mermaids are.  They are definitely neutral in the war between the Eight and (what he refers to as) the Unseelie.  They often flip flop from one side to the other–no pun intended. :)  Once you start talking to them, they will say "oh, yeah, you're right," and then they will go to the other side and say the exact same thing.  They are definitely conflicted and can see both sides. 

I know it's moving off topic but have you heard of the Skinningrove merman?