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Description
These have taken up the appearance of various sea elements and creatures: catfish, eel, barnacle, coral, narwal, seaweeds, jellyfish, and other creatures they've encountered along the coastline travelled. They are only a limited trio of examples added onto the template pictured on the right. Pluff hags can literally take up the appearance of any sea element, up to and including taking on the head shape of, say, a hammerhead shark combined with the fins of a manta ray. No two ever look the same, though the face is always at least vaguely humanoid upon a few hundred years' development. The ones pictured can be aged at somewhere from 1,000 to 1,300 years old and are nearing their final mermaid-like phase of life when they are in their most deceptive, cunning and deadly state.

What is a Pluff Hag?
The pluff hag is an unpleasant creature born of large bodies of pluff mud, at first being a self-aware mere sloughing pile of creeping mass. Over hundreds of years, it slowly develops features that at least appear to be part sea creature, part plantera and part humanoid. Eventually, at least after a millennium, the pluff hag will develop outside its own control into a very convincing mermaid-like being and go in hunt of human prey to bolster its immortality.

There have been instances of mermaid predation for the same reason or terrorizing for the sake of dark mischief. They aren't terribly fond of their own kind, are highly territorial, and are not found in the open sea. The bottom of the deep sea is reserved for sea hags which are entirely different creatures who trade goods with the pluff hags, but that is the extent of their interaction if they can help it. Mermaids completely avoid hags entirely, out of fear. Predating a single mermaid boosts a hag's lifespan by hundreds of years, where a single human would only buy them a few years more.

If a pluff hag does not feed off other creatures, it risks losing the force that brought it to life, seemingly turning back into lifeless mud. Months ahead of time, it will appear as though a muddy cloud emanates from all over its form, but this threat can make it easier for a hag to feed, actually hiding the hag within its own murk in later stages. This muddy emanation has been called simply "hag smoke." If degraded enough in form, what lies at the center of the hag smoke can have shadowy illusions appear within the cloud and even send out distress sounds mimicking the species it is trying to lure in. If lured in, the prey will quickly become lost and confused, eventually lured to the center, where the predator's remaining form will attempt to catch and feed on the exhausted prey. If air breathing, the prey will drown, unable to find the surface, and the murky mass will move in to feed on the fading life force.

Studies of more progressed hag clouds have revealed that a tiny solid form does in face exist at the center. Carefully extracted and contained, this form was found to most commonly resemble, as one researcher described: "The most pissed off, nasty little shrimpy thing I've ever seen!" It is best described as a one-inch long, multicolored, large-eyed shrimp with ivory fuzz growing out from beneath its carapace and abdomen. A hard, sharp, fin-like growth is atop the carapace, but its function is unknown. Away from the hag smoke, this "shrimple," as said researcher jokingly said is its common name, has been in containment for the last three years with no change, in either form or unpleasant disposition.

Pluff Hags are also the top predator of Cuttlepluffs:
What is a Cuttlepluff?

Update: closed the idea of adoptables after some consideration

Description
These have taken up the appearance of various sea elements and creatures: catfish, eel, barnacle, coral, narwal, seaweeds, jellyfish, and other creatures they've encountered along the coastline travelled. They are only a limited trio of examples added onto the template pictured on the right. Pluff hags can literally take up the appearance of any sea element, up to and including taking on the head shape of, say, a hammerhead shark combined with the fins of a manta ray. No two ever look the same, though the face is always at least vaguely humanoid upon a few hundred years' development. The ones pictured can be aged at somewhere from 1,000 to 1,300 years old and are nearing their final mermaid-like phase of life when they are in their most deceptive, cunning and deadly state.

What is a Pluff Hag?
The pluff hag is an unpleasant creature born of large bodies of pluff mud, at first being a self-aware mere sloughing pile of creeping mass. Over hundreds of years, it slowly develops features that at least appear to be part sea creature, part plantera and part humanoid. Eventually, at least after a millennium, the pluff hag will develop outside its own control into a very convincing mermaid-like being and go in hunt of human prey to bolster its immortality.

There have been instances of mermaid predation for the same reason or terrorizing for the sake of dark mischief. They aren't terribly fond of their own kind, are highly territorial, and are not found in the open sea. The bottom of the deep sea is reserved for sea hags which are entirely different creatures who trade goods with the pluff hags, but that is the extent of their interaction if they can help it. Mermaids completely avoid hags entirely, out of fear. Predating a single mermaid boosts a hag's lifespan by hundreds of years, where a single human would only buy them a few years more.

If a pluff hag does not feed off other creatures, it risks losing the force that brought it to life, seemingly turning back into lifeless mud. Months ahead of time, it will appear as though a muddy cloud emanates from all over its form, but this threat can make it easier for a hag to feed, actually hiding the hag within its own murk in later stages. This muddy emanation has been called simply "hag smoke." If degraded enough in form, what lies at the center of the hag smoke can have shadowy illusions appear within the cloud and even send out distress sounds mimicking the species it is trying to lure in. If lured in, the prey will quickly become lost and confused, eventually lured to the center, where the predator's remaining form will attempt to catch and feed on the exhausted prey. If air breathing, the prey will drown, unable to find the surface, and the murky mass will move in to feed on the fading life force.

Studies of more progressed hag clouds have revealed that a tiny solid form does in face exist at the center. Carefully extracted and contained, this form was found to most commonly resemble, as one researcher described: "The most pissed off, nasty little shrimpy thing I've ever seen!" It is best described as a one-inch long, multicolored, large-eyed shrimp with ivory fuzz growing out from beneath its carapace and abdomen. A hard, sharp, fin-like growth is atop the carapace, but its function is unknown. Away from the hag smoke, this "shrimple," as said researcher jokingly said is its common name, has been in containment for the last three years with no change, in either form or unpleasant disposition.

Pluff Hags are also the top predator of Cuttlepluffs:
What is a Cuttlepluff?

Update: closed the idea of adoptables after some consideration