In Greek mythology, Nerites (Greek: Νηρίτης, romanized: Nērítēs) was a minor sea deity, the son of "Old Man of the Sea" Nereus and the Oceanid Doris[1] and brother of the fifty Nereids (apparently their only male sibling).
According to Aelian, although Nerites was never mentioned by epic poets such as Homer and Hesiod he was a common figure in the mariners' folklore nevertheless.
When the time had come for her to join the Olympian gods, she wanted Nerites to go with her, but he refused, preferring to stay with his family in the sea.
[4] Aelian also conjectured that Helios was angered at Nerites being amongst the sea monsters with his skill and wished for him to be amongst the constellations.
[2] In the nineteenth century several terracotta figurines from the Greek island of Aegina were identified by the German archaeologist Karl Bernhard Stark as artistic representations of Aphrodite with Nerites.