Posts

Showing posts with the label fish

Orabou

Image
  The orabou was a creature reported by AndrĂ© Thevet during his journeys, sometime in the 1600 th century. The creature was seen in the waters near Mount Marzouan. No mountain is named Mount Marzouan today, so it’s unknown which mountain this was supposed to be, but it was believed to be near the Red Sea. The orabou was a fish cat hybrid with an unusually humped back. The creature was covered in armour like scales that Thevet compared to brigantine armour. The orabou was nine to ten feet long. It made sounds similar to a cat. According to Thevet, the locals would occasionally fish and eat the orabou, even though the meat was said to cause kidney stones. The locals would treat the kidney stones with a folk remedies made from herbs and the orabou’s own fat. Thevet tried some of the orabou’s meat while he was there. He said it was foul tasting and compared it to preserved camel meat. The orabou was said to be extremely ferocious towards other sea life. Much thought has ...

Marool

Image
  The marool is a sea monster from the Shetland Islands in Scotland. It’s a mythological interpretation of a monk fish. In addition to the monk fish’s already strange appearance, the marool has a multitude of eyes on its head and a fiery crest in place of a back fin. The marool is about the size of a dolphin, which is larger than a real monk fish, but still not that big for a sea monster. The marool takes great pleasure in watching ships sink and sailors drown. It stirs up the sea and causes a glowing sea foam known as mareel. The marool also sings during storms and sea swells. It’s voice in haunting and causes fear. Sources https://britishfantasysociety.org/10-fearsome-foes-from-scottish-folklore/ https://abookofcreatures.com/2016/03/04/marool/

Ambize

Image
  I'm starting a new thing, I'm going to do the monster alphabet. I've already found and planned out monsters for every letter, even q and x. So this week we're starting with A. The ambize angulo, better known to the internet as the ambize (pronounced am-bee-zay, ending like say or day), is an aquatic monster from the Congo River and its tributaries. It straddles the line of folklore and cryptid, being part of the local folk tales and being encountered by 17 th century European travellers. The ambize is described as a cross between a pig and a fish, having the overall form of a fish with a pig's head and blubbery skin. It has a rounded tail that is swung up and down while swimming, like a sea mammal. The ambize's most bizarre feature is that it has giant fleshy human hands in place of fins. Although this appears to be a feature that has been exaggerated with time, as earlier reports give it more proportional human arms in place of the hand fins, which is still ...

Lake Ontario Monsters

Image
 Lake Ontario has had it's share of monster sightings over the year. Every sighting has been drastically different, which doesn't help the credibility of this monster. Yet the different forms it takes have been fascinating. Many of the sightings have been concentrated around the shores of Kingston, which has given the monster or monsters the name Kingsie. There are more sightings than I can list here, so I will only cover the most interesting. While sightings occurred before this point, the earliest that was given a definite date happened in July 3 rd , 1817, where a ship's crew saw a giant snake like creature in the water. It was one foot in diameter and 30 to 40 feet long. The name of the ship or the crew members who witnessed the event was not given. On July 1 st , 1833, Captain Kellogg and his crew on the Polythermus saw a giant worm like creature. It was blue in color and had no obvious head, tapering to a point at both ends. The creature swam by the ship in a smooth ...