DEMON-LIKE SEA MONSTER

 

DEMON-LIKE SEA MONSTER
"In the same year (1427), a sea monster was caught and its image was distributed in the country. The upper part up to the navel was of human shape and below it was a fish. Except that the lower part was divided in two, lengthwise. It had, above the ears two growths similar to horns. It had two large breasts and a wide mouth. From the hands to under the armpits and further to the belly it had webbing suitable for swimming. So this monster was trapped: In a city by the sea there were several women walking on the shore, and to one of them - the same cruel beast came and wanted to drag to him. But the woman resisted splendidly and asked the other women for help. These ran up and seized and slew the monster with sticks and stones and pulled it ashore. it was so ghastly to behold that many were frightened by it. Its length and size were more than that of a man. It is thought to have come to the town to eat, for many children of the town who had gone swimming in the sea were lost in it and never returned. therefore they must have been eaten by the beast.

Aesop's Fables: With Aviani, Adelfonsi and Pogii, as well as Doctor Sebastian Brant

VLÉTIF

VLÉTIF

"The vlétif/Uletif is an imaginary animal strangely resembling a sea unicorn or narwhal (Monodon monoceros). This strange animal had a gigantic fish body, a toothed whale head and above the eyes a very long saw-like bone."

"Among others the utelif, which has like a saw on its forehead, three feet long or more, and four fingers wide, and has of two very sharp edges, some of which points are in my possession."

André Thevet, La Cosmographie Universelle

SIRENA

 

SIRENA

"The sirens are deadly animals. They have from the head to the navel the shape of a woman, powerful in size, cruel face with long hair and a fine head. But they appear with their feet/flippers, which they carry in their arms, because with the feet/flippers they point to their breasts, which they have big on their chests. When the shipmen see them, they are almost afraid. So they throw her a cringle (like a sort of hoop for ropes of the sail to pass through -Imi), with which she plays until the ship can sail away."

 Conrad of Megenberg, The Book Of Nature

SIREN-LIKE DOLPHIN II

SIREN-LIKE DOLPHIN II

"The dolphin has its eyes on the back and the mouth on the opposite (on the opposite side) therefore they probably did not see their prey and food because of the clumsiness of the mouth from the eyes. Therefore they turn their mouth towards the sky, back and eyes towards the earth, so that they can catch their prey. If a thunderstorm is about, they play on top of the water, so that one sees them. One also says that they do help those who are in need in the waters. And one says that they cry when they are caught."

Hortus Sanitatis

SIREN-LIKE DOLPHIN I

SIREN-LIKE DOLPHIN I

"The dolphin has its eyes on the back and the mouth on the opposite (on the opposite side) therefore they probably did not see their prey and food because of the clumsiness of the mouth from the eyes. Therefore they turn their mouth towards the sky, back and eyes towards the earth, so that they can catch their prey. If a thunderstorm is about, they play on top of the water, so that one sees them. One also says that they do help those who are in need in the waters. And one says that they cry when they are caught."

 Unknown Author (often attributed to Johann Wonnecke von Kaub), Hortus Sanitatis

The dolphin is very fond of its children, which is why it feeds them for a long time. Alone among all fishes it gives birth to a perfect animal and has breasts and suckles its young. And when a dolphin dies, the others gather together and carry the dead one into the depths of the sea and bury him so that he will not be eaten by fish. 

The small dolphins all stay together as they take each other by the hand and two large dolphins are their guardians. And if one of them dies, they carry him on their shoulders and armpits, protecting him so that he is not attacked by other fish, and when the storm of the sea throws the dead one ashore,  they hold each other affectionately, that is why it is said (as Pliny states) that a dolphin was caught by King Carie and a great multitude of Dolphins came to the harbor where he was caught and tied up. They sobbed and mourned as if desiring mercy, so the king let him go.
Aristotle, Historia Animalium

MORSS PISCIS

MORSS PISCIS

"In 1635 the Spanish Jesuit Juan Eusebio Nieremberg published Historia Naturae Maxime Perigrinae, a collection of descriptions of exotic beasts, most from the Americas, and containing a woodcut of an animal he called morrs piscis, which had a head resembling that of a dog, with protruding tongue, a mane, forelegs with long hair and large claws, and a fish's tail."

Michael Allaby, Oceans: A Scientific History Of Oceans And Marine Life

SEA-HORSE

SEA-HORSE

"Many of the sea monster that appear on medieval maps are hybrids such as the sea don, the sea lion, and the sea pig, and the source of many of these creatures was the ancient and medieval theory that every land creature had its equivalent in the sea. Some Roman mosaics reflect this theory, showing hybrid creatures such as sea rams, sea lions, sea horses, and so on."

Chet Van Duzer, Monsters On Medieval And Renaissance Maps

AQUATIC BULL

AQUATIC BULL

"A single-horned aquatic bull from the twelfth-century painted ceiling in the Church Of St. Martin in Zillis, Switzerland."

Chet Van Duzer, Sea Monsters On Medieval And Renaissance Maps

AQUATIC ELEPHANT

AQUATIC ELEPHANT

"An aquatic elephant, probably intended for a walrus, from the twelfth-century painted ceiling in the church of St Martin in Zillis, Switzerland."

Chet Van Duzer, Sea Monsters On Medieval and Renaissance Maps

KRAKEN

KRAKEN

"There is a fish not yet mentioned which it is scarcely advisable to speak about on account of its size, which to most men will seem incredible. There are, moreover, but very few who can tell anything definite about it, inasmuch as it is rarely seen by men; for it almost never approaches the shore or appears where fishermen can see it, and I doubt that this sort of fish is very plentiful in the sea. In our language it is usually called the 'kraken'."

King's Mirror

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

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

MONK FISH

MONK FISH

"The monk fish was credited with the head of a human with a tonsured hairstyle like that of a monk and a monk's cowl on a cape about its shoulders. Its fish-like body, covered in scales, was supported vertically by two extremely large flippers or arms."

Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters and Dragons

"Named a 'sea monk', because its smooth-looking head evoked men of the cloister, it resembled, in an original sketch, a large squid."

David Grann, The Squid Hunter

BISHOP FISH

BISHOP FISH

"The bishop fish was described as a giant fish but in place of the usual pectoral fins it had two projections resembling claws. Its tail fins resembled legs wearing a fisherman's high boots, while its dorsal fin extended about the body. The head, neither truly fish nor truly human, was crowned by a projection resembling a bishop's miter."

Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters and Dragons

SAW FISH

SAW FISH

"The saw fish is also a beast of the sea; the body is huge and great, the head hath a crest and is hard and dented like a saw. It will swim under ships and cut them, that the water may come in, and he may feed on the men when the ship is drowned."

Olaus Magnus, A Compendious History Of the Goths, Swedes & Vandals

SEA EAGLE

SEA EAGLE

""In 1550 a flying fish was caught that was frightening and gave marvel to see. It was four or more feet in length and twice as much in width from one tip to the other of its wing, and a good square foot in thickness. Its head was wondrously thick, having two eyes, one on top of the other, in a line; two large ears and two mouths; its snout was very fleshy; green in color; its wings were double; on its throat it had five holes in the fashion of a lamprey; its tail was an ell long, on top of which were two small wings."

Ambroise Paré, Des Monstres

MARINE SOW

MARINE SOW

"The Marine Sow was described as a vast creature of seventy-two feet in length, fourteen feet in depth, and seven feet across from eye to eye on a head that resembled that of a pig. It also had a further six eyes, three located on each side of its scaly body and a crescent-shaped dorsal fin."

Carol Rose, Giants Monsters and Dragons