MARINE CENTIPEDE

MARINE CENTIPEDE

"The Scolpendra (Marine Centipede) is a sea-monster and of sea-monsters it is the biggest and if cast up on the shore no one would have the courage to look at it. They swim with numerous feet in line on either side as though they were rowing themselves with tholepins hung alongside."

Aelian, On Animals

BEARDED WHALE

BEARDED WHALE

"Conrad Gesner did drawings for his woodcuts from real creatures and from descriptions of sightings by sailors. Olaus Magnus, who described a horned whale looking like 'a tree rooted up by the roots,' originally reported this 'bearded whale' in 1558."

Jill K. Berry & Linden McNeilly, Map Art Lab: 52

"An excellent cut of this monster is given, and it is interesting to note the body of a whale, the tentacles of the big squid or cuttlefish, and the head of a hair-seal."

Charles Holder & David Jordan, Fish Stories Alleged and Experienced

HECATONCHEIRES

HECATONCHEIRES

"The Hekatonkheires (Hecatoncheires) or Hundred-Handed giants were three primordial sons of Ouranos (Uranus, the Sky) and Gaia (Gaea, the Earth). Each had a hundred hands for wielding clouds and fifty heads for blustering winds (theullai). Their three companion brothers, the Kyklopes (Cyclopes), were masters of thunder and lightning. Fearing the power of his gigantic sons, Ouranos promptly locked them away in the pit of Tartaros.

An age later, the six giants were released by Zeus during his war against the Titanes (Titans) and helped drive the elder gods from heaven down into the pit. The Hekatonkheires were then appointed as the prison's eternal wardens."

Aaron J. Atsma, The Theoi Project

ZIPHIUS

ZIPHIUS
"The Ziphius was said to have the body of an enormous fish. However, its head, which had grotesque eyes and a wedge-shaped beak over a vast, gaping mouth, was supposed to resemble that of an owl. This monstrous creature was said to attack ships in the northern seas it inhabited. "

Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters and Dragons

FEEJEE MERMAID

FEEJEE MERMAID
"In 1882, a dried mermaid was exhibited at the Turf coffeehouse in London"

"All these were manufactured in the same way as the Feejee Mermaid: the upper body of a monkey had been skillfully joined to the hind part of a large fish, usually a hake, salmon or carp."

Jan Bondeson, The Feejee Mermaid and Other Essays