Katy Perry Follows Lady Gaga In Mermaid Trend

Of all the potential beefs in the music industry, mermaids didn't seem like the most likely of instigators. But that may change. Shortly after Lady Gaga teased that her mermaid alter ego, Yuyi, might be "born" in her next music video, Katy Perry tweeted a photo of herself dressed as a mermaid.

"PROPER planking FTW! #itswhatArielwoulddo," she wrote on Twitter, showing off her second entry into the Internet phenom of planking, in which people post photos of themselves lying face down, with their arms at their sides, in awkward locations.

In the photo, Perry is done up in full mermaid attire: She's wearing a purple wig with a starfish hairpin, a shimmering aqua-and-pink mermaid tail with a matching bra top. She's surrounded by shiny paper acting as water and a bridge prop looms in the background. There's been no word on the official purpose of the photo shoot.

While Gaga hasn't commented on any mermaid similarities, her creative director, Laurieann Gibson, did make reference to it on Twitter just hours after Perry tweeted the photo of herself. "Proud of my artist #1 in the world @Ladygaga her vision& passion. even though they try to steal a tail there's only 1 Mermaid, Swim On!!!" Gibson wrote.

Gaga has certainly been trying to make her mermaid phase happen for some time now. She initially introduced fans to Yuyi on Twitter earlier this summer and donned mermaid attire for her performance on "Le Grand Journal." Though she apparently nixed the rumored mermaid treatment for her "Edge of Glory" video, she told a Taiwanese talk show last week that Yuyi is "in incubation" and may appear in the video for her yet-unannounced fourth Born This Way single.

Of course, neither Gaga nor Perry would be the first pop star to think of using the mythological creatures for their sets. In Madonna's black-and-white clip for 1989's "Cherish," directed by the late fashion photographer Herb Ritts, Madonna splashes in the waves with mermen. Mermaids are popping up elsewhere in pop culture too, as a major plot point in "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" and in several new novels, including an upcoming book by "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer.