Part of today's Gemara tells us that the Sages taught a non-kosher fish will spawn but a kosher fish will lay eggs. Animals that give birth to its offspring also nurses them. Animals that lay eggs gathers food and feed their young except for the bat, for though it lays eggs, it nurses its young. Dulfanin, also called the sons of the sea, are said by Rav Yehuda to reproduce like people.
The Carilaginous fish is an example of a non-kosher fish where a fertilized egg develops I n the body of the mother while offspring are born as live fish. Kosher fish are said to lay eggs that develop and then hatch over time.
Steinsaltz notes that some of these statements are generally true. We are introduced to thoughts about dulfanin. Are these dolphins? Similarities between humans and dolphins include long shows of affection before mating, mating while facing each other, nursing, helping one another, and helping people in distress in the water.
Rashi suggests that dulfanin reproduce from people. This the Gemara is discussing mermaids, or sirens - creatures half human and half fish - that have sexual intercourse with people. Ancient literature and myth are a notable example of discussion of such creatures.
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