Mara Wasik can swim underwater at just four months old after she was born 10 weeks early to parents Nikki and Shane

Mara Wasik isn’t quite five months old yet but she has already started swimming on her own under water.

Her mum Nikki said: “She is just a little mermaid. She has come through so much, against all the odds.”

Mara – whose name is Gaelic for the sea – is already an old hand at swimming, reports the Daily Record .

Tiny Mara Wasik was born 10 weeks early

And last week, her dad Shane, who swims with sharks for a living, gave her a taste of free diving. Shane, 37, said Mara is a natural water baby.

He added: “We have been swimming with Mara a few times but this was the first time I have tried to do something underwater.

“She is doing really well now after her rough start in the world.

“She’ll soon be five months old and she’s taking to the water well. She’s not quite ready for the Atlantic yet but a 30 degree pool is fine.”

Mara’ name is Gaelic for the sea

Shane, 37, who runs Basking Shark Scotland, escorting tourists to swim with the gentle giants in the Hebridean waters off Oban, said babies have a breath-holding reflex action in the water for the first few months of their life.

Mara was born 10 weeks early so because she was too small to feed, her birth weight of 3lb 6oz dropped to just 2lb 13oz.

She spent six weeks in a special baby care unit because she was so small.

Mara with her dad Shane

Nikki, 36, who caught her daughter’s first dive on camera, added: “Mara was never meant to be born so early.

“To see her now it’s hard to believe that Mara had such a tough start in life.

“She is the bravest thing and now she is free diving with Daddy.”

Mara was born after Nikki was rushed in a ambulance from Oban to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.

Shane was at a trade event in Birmingham when the drama unfolded.

Earlier, Nikki had driven to Glasgow to pick up her friend Gina Richards, 47, who had flown from New Zealand to spend a holiday with them.

All was well when the women returned home and Gina went for an early night after her long journey.

Nikki said: “She was pretty jet-lagged. We got home to Oban about five o’clock on a Sunday night and by midnight I was at the hospital.

“I had started having funny little pains and felt not quite myself, so I phoned NHS 24. Then I started bleeding. They wanted to send a helicopter, but we decided just phoning 999 was OK.

“I felt like I was making a big fuss, so I just left my friend sleeping, I left her a note to say could she please feed the cat.”

After a quick check over at Oban’s Lorn and Islands hospital, Nikki was transferred to Paisley.

She added: “It was a blue light journey and we hit a deer on the way. It’s a windy road and would normally take two-and-a-half hours. But I was there in an hour and 40 minutes – and that included the deer accident.

“We were driving at about 70 miles an hour and then we came to a complete stop. They didn’t want to worry me but when we got to hospital they said there had been a wee deer on the road.”

On arrival at hospital, Nikki started bleeding more heavily.