Crocodile stitch pattern help

[Pinemom]

Hi everyone, 

i purchased a pattern for a crocodile stitched mermaid tail and I'm having trouble with part of the instructions.

it asks to join with a slip stitch to the marked stitches but it looks weird to me. 

It asks to mark the third stitch at the beginning and the first double crochet of the first crocodile stitch and then at the end slip stitch to both markers. It doesn't look right to me. I've tried looking at tutorials but none of them are close to this pattern. I've crocheted this part three times now and still can't figure it out.

[Flia]

When I think it look weird I just do as they say. 

It will probably explain itself on the following rows. 

[Granny Square]

^ Good advice.  Granted, a lot of patterns have typos, but many times I've thought "that can't be right", then followed what it said and discovered a clever way of doing something I hadn't thought of.  On the other hand, on others I've followed a typo (which I hadn't caught beforehand), and by following it was able to figure out what it MEANT to say.

Is there a link to the pattern site to see what the end project is supposed to look like?  What part is this of the tail anatomy?  I can't imagine how this small tube is part of a people-sized mermaid tail blanket, but the relative size of the scales to the opening  doesn't look right for a doll either.