Ariel is a 16-year-old mermaid princess in the kingdom of Atlantica, in the Atlantic Ocean. She is fascinated by the human world above. She ventures out with her best friend Flounder the fish, to collect human artifacts in her grotto and often goes to the surface of the ocean to visit Scuttle the seagull, who offers inaccurate knowledge of human culture. She swims back to Atlantica and is watched by two eels named Flotsam and Jetsam under orders from Ursula the sea witch. Ariel ignores the warnings of her father King Triton, the ruler of Atlantica, and Sebastian the crab, who serves as Triton's adviser and court composer, that contact with humans is forbidden.