The Mermaid's Tail

I got home from work one day and my wife and her sister were talking about how some girl in one of their online games had spent $2500 on a mermaid's tail.  I was like "?" and they told me that I had heard them correctly.  As first I was thinking "Wow, that could be a really good deal" until they said it was a virtual item.

So, for emphasis, a person spent 2500 Real-Life Dollars on a digital collection of pixels.

Obviously, this has no effect on my life and it isn't my business to tell anyone how to spend their money but it did get me to thinking that a Mermaid's Tail is something that you could encounter in a superhero-setting and THAT got me to thinking that I could probably give it stats and a cost.

But how would it work?

I am not an electrical engineer or a certified diver.  I have no practical expertise to bring to the design board but this is what I came up with....


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