Triton, << TRY tuhn >>, was a sea god in Greek mythology. He was a merman, a creature often portrayed with the body of a man from the waist up and a fish from the waist down. Triton lived with his parents, the sea god Poseidon and his wife, Amphitrite, in their golden palace at the bottom of the sea. Triton often blew his conch shell horn to stir up or calm the seas and rivers.
According to early myths, Triton often befriended passing sailors. He guided the Argonauts, companions of the Greek hero Jason, and gave one of them a clod of earth that later became the island of Thera in the Aegean Sea. In later myths, Triton appeared as a menacing sea monster.
