As you know, our librarians here at Wilson Library love finding all the mermaids in our special collections. So today, when we came across multiplemer-beings in our stacks, we knew we had to share them with our Tumblr followers.
These mer-men (and mer-creatures and mer-clergymen) were found in our Rare Books Collection’s copy of Physica Curiosa, a 17th century text dealing with a wide range of subjects including zoology, cryptozoology, obstetrical abnormalities, and demonology. Although Gaspar Schott includes all manner of centaurs, monster-chickens, wolf-men, and other oddities in Physica Curiosa, these mermaids are definitely our favorite cryptid of the book.
Monstrous fish that swim the wide open oceans surrounding Midgaheim, sea boars are so named for their large tusks and distinctive upturned nostrils. Despite being purely aquatic creatures, most sea boars possess rudimentary lungs, with many even vocalizing with loud roars and bellows. Sea Boars are typically omnivorous, though there are some exceptions.
The most massive fish to roam the oceans surrounding Midgaheim, leviathans account for some of the most terrifying sea monsters known to man, matched and surpassed only by the largest of sea dragons. They are a sister clade to the sea boars, many of whom also make up the bulk of the leviathans’ diet (and are included in our fun little scale chart).
Isaiah’s Leviathan - largest of the leviathans, and perhaps the only sea monster that can give a full grown Midgar Guivre a fair fight.
Job’s Leviathan - second largest of the leviathans and the most vicious, this enormous fish has a voracious appetite and a territorial streak that drives it to be a remorseless killer.
Jonah’s Leviathan - though still a maneater by nature, this leviathan is docile enough to be trained to an extent, though they have never been fully domesticated.
Jasconius - more docile than its kin, this massive fish has been fully domesticated in the past, with some even being trained to escort human vessels. Jasconiuses can hibernate for decades at a time, to the point where their inert and curled up bodies can be mistaken for islands. Though they don’t actively prey on humans like other leviathans, the Jasconius is viciously territorial when presented with similarly sized sea monsters, which, combined with its otherwise ambivalent temperament, makes it an excellent protector for sailing ships.
Murex - the second smallest of the leviathans, this sharp-fanged fish is just as vicious as most of its kin, and has proven adept at tearing boars apart board by board to get at the tasty humans within.
Dwarf Leviathan - bred by wizards to be amiable, survive in freshwater, and grow to a more manageable size, this beast is to other leviathans what the catoblepas is to behemoths: the stunted, domesticated version of a monster that was originally a nigh-unstoppable force of nature. They do make excellent guardians, though, patrolling moats and lakes for their human masters and keeping them free of the many, MANY lake and river monsters that might otherwise roost there.
Been meaning to ask this: How exactly did somebody manage to tame a Leviathan, much less domesticate them?
Today’s dragon is the stoorwyrm or Atlantic Sea Dragon! I’m really happy with the pattern on this doodled design, but not 100% on board with the body shape - despite researching marine reptiles as a job I’m abysmal at making up fictional ones. I could make my crocodile-dragons evolve into animals similar to thalattosuchians (marine crocodile-relatives of the Mesozoic) but I feel going for a more fantastical whale-serpent would fit the mythology better.
This said, whales swim with up-down undulations whereas a marine reptile would swim with side-to-side undulations, so I may end up pushing a more serpentine or aguiliform shape instead of a whale shape…
The name ‘stoorwyrm’ comes from the Orcadian legend of Mester Stoorwurm, a sea serpent that was menacing Orkney until someone rowed their boat full of explosives into the dragon’s mouth, kaboom!
I mean, it’s not impossible - mosasaurs *and* crocodilians both adapted similar forms in their evolutionary history, and they were side-to-side swimmers too.
And you had similar setups in the big ichthyosaurs.
When it comes to being huge and aquatic, this seems to just be the ideal way for a reptile to go about it!
I’ve literally been thinking about this all day, I feel more sympathetic to ancient cartographers who added sea monsters to their maps.
There’s a good chance that some alleged sea serpents are/were misidentified sturgeons, particularly the ones that describe a series of ridges or “humps” along the back of the creature.
I won’t say that describing sturgeons as sea / lake monsters is a mistake though. Because that is clearly a sea / lake monster. Just because we’ve assigned a scientific name to it doesn’t mean it’s not also an awe-inspiring aquatic beastie of mythical proportions.
Tomorrow, November 12, marks the anniversary of the first photograph apparently taken of the Loch Ness Monster, when, in 1933, Hugh Gray spotted the sea serpent while walking along Scotland’s River Foyers. In celebration, we combed through some old editions if Fate magazine for images of Nessie. So, are you a believer?
The Koakun-Klun is a lizard-like creature found in Cape Verde in Africa. The Koakun-Klun is described as a lizard-like creature that is said to resemble a mix between a crocodile and a monitor lizard and it is grey in color and is sometimes depicted with a tail that resembles a whale’s. The Koakun-Klun is said to do a death roll similar to that of a crocodile’s however it brings it prey deep underwater and then does the death roll to ensure that it’s prey doesn’t get away.
Anyone want to start 2021 with a game? Reblog and put in the tags what animal you think this is:
[The Hague, KB, 76 E 4 fol.67v]
Congratulations to everyone who guessed hippo! You are correct & should probably add medieval animal identification to your resumés if it isn’t there already. Also congratulations to everyone who said it was “a friend,” because I can’t argue with that.
Seal & sea cow (elephant seal was by far the most common guess, but manuscripts don’t usually get that granular re: pinniped taxonomy so these will have to do)
It’s a long weekend for a holiday I don’t really celebrate, so I’m once again spending my free time on the ideal activity: looking at sea monsters. This time they’re from the non-standard art style variant of Der naturen bloeme(British Library Add MS 11390). The fish section starts at f.49v & I highly recommend checking it out! It’s a cornucopia of delights and no post could possibly do it justice since there are perfect images on literally every page. That being said, here are some personal highlights:
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
2 kinds of dolphins, both equally valid (ocean & river for people who aren’t familiar with platanista or are struggling with the script)
naut…il..us?
polyp
tragically blurry sea-deer
orca with just the wiggliest mouth
& ziphius
I haven’t been referencing the standard illustrations, but it’s vital everyone know that in the original the ziphius looks like this
There are a lot of things to love about these 14th c. Italian birds (in order: hawk, ostrich & crane), but my absolute favourite is the total disregard for formatting:
the manuscript (BnF Latin 6823) also contains some stunned looking pigeons:
an example of how easy it is to start drawing a swallow and accidentally end up with a fish:
and the real reason I’m making this post, the pinnacle of scientific illustration, an image that stopped me dead in my tracks:
The award for Best Symbolic Sea Monster Riding on a 16th Century Map still goes to Fernado Bertelli’s 1565 Universale descrittione di tutta la terra conosciuta fin qui, which features Bold Fortune windsurfing on the back of a truly indescribable fish & is singlehandedly responsible for changing my understanding of her role to ‘Goddess of Extreme Sports’
I got my second shot & I’m taking it easy for a day or two, which means it’s time for the ultimate relaxation reading: 16th century maps! In this case, Abraham Ortelius’ Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, usually described as the first modern atlas. It was originally published in Antwerp in 1570, but I’m using the 1571 edition from the Koninklijke Bibliotheek collection (also available at Wikimedia Commons).
Probably no one will be surprised to hear that when I say “looking at maps” I mostly mean “looking at decorative sea monsters that happen to be located on maps,” but before we get to the fishy friends here’s the world map that opens the book, just because it’s kind of cool to see what has and hasn’t changed over the last 450 years.
Now that that’s out of the way, choose your fighter:
a) fringed sea-gnome
b) a letter opener
c) duck horse, or dorse
d) absolute unit
A key feature of this edition is that all the fish have easily some of the faces I’ve seen:
This one gets its own section because when I first saw it I thought the tail was a second head, and I can’t get over this duck-billed affront to nature serving not one but two of the most disgusted expressions I’ve even had the honour of beholding:
On one hand, the custom of depicting monarchs and powerful figures as Neptune was meant to symbolize dominion over the waves and is directly tied to imperialism
On the other hand, *gestures to entire sea monster*
On the third hand I had installed specifically for hypotheticals, this is so much funnier than any current trends that I think we should bring it back as a way of depicting celebrities and cultural icons? As long as you remove the trident/laurels/emblems there’s no reason being transported by sea monsters couldn’t have completely un-imperial symbolism ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
One of my many ideas that no one else appreciates is a band composed entirely of the weirdest musical grotesques from historical documents. Would they be holograms? animatronics? a cross between Medieval Times and Chuck E. Cheese? an avant garde boyband concept? I don’t know, but I do know I dream of a world where this guy goes platinum:
