#sea monsters

[nobrashfestivity]

Kiakshuk, Inuit Artist, Sea Monsters Devouring a Whale, 1961, Cape Dorset

[illustratus]

Andromeda by Arthur Rackham

[weirdlookindog]

"Un de ces longs bras glissa par l’ouverture"

Alphonse de Neuville (1835-1885) - Long Arm Glided

Illustration from Jules Verne's "Twenty thousand leagues under the sea", 1870

[cuties-in-codices]

unusual encounters

illustrations for "l'épître d’othéa" by christine de pizan, france, c. 1460

source: Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 49, fol. 17r, 55r, 82v, and 84r

[gatoburr0]

Sigh,,,, new AU alert.

This is genuinely so fun though UGH I’m gonna do so many of these

((Pearl is an average sized orca))

If you’re wondering,,, yes,,, shark monster au,,, everyone’s a shark,,,, or like whales or whatever

Silly sea creatures

[aroosprey]

Ace, Aro, OR BOTH?

I have made some ace/aro pride sea monsters,,, as a treat

edit: just so you know this artwork is made by an aroallo artist who doesn't appreciate being erased

tagging it as aspec/aro/ace and nothing else is fine, but if you're gonna tag aroace, don't exclude the other intersections represented here

[realfootage]

[thechills]

IN THE DEEP (horror and the sea for @antichrist-demoncore 🌊)

hermann melville / triangle (2009) / julia armfield / the deep house (2021) / h.p. lovecraft / underwater (2020) / mira grant / 47 meters down: uncaged (2019) / werner herzog / the deep ones

[madcat-world]

On Thin Ice - Boris Groh

[nickpeppermint]

Happy 3 years anniversary to our beloved fish boys!!!

[shadyufo]

Cryptids & Creatures of Folklore Drawtober Day 20 — Con Rit

Con Rit is the name given to a monstrous oceanic centipede-like creature seen in the seas around Vietnam. It is described as being approximately 60 - 130 feet in length and has a segmented body like a centipede but with fins instead of legs. Some accounts say it has whiskers and a turtle-like head. Several Con Rit carcasses supposedly washed up in 1800s and early 1900s.

There have been sightings of similar giant ocean centipedes in other parts of the world as well. In 1889, John Bailhache reported that he and his crew had witnessed a "weird" creature about twenty miles northeast of Cedros Island off the coast of Baja California. Bailhache said the creature was around 100 feet in length with a segmented body, multiple fins, and no visible eyes. He and his fellow crew members watched it feasting on a dead whale while it made a terrible wheezing sound.

[weirdlookindog]

"Le poulpe brandissait la victime comme une plume"

Alphonse de Neuville (1835-1885) - Brandishing it's Victim

Illustration from Jules Verne's "Twenty thousand leagues under the sea", 1870

[mistressofthemacabresworld]

[ltwilliammowett]

Delft tiles with depictions of sea monsters, sea gods, ships and fish, Netherlands, 17th century

[bestiarium]

The Aasivarluit [Inuit mythology]!

The oceans have fascinated humans for millennia. As such, it is no surprise that a great many cultures from around the world have their own stories about scary and dangerous creatures from beneath the waves. One such being is the ocean-spider, or Aasivarluit, a massive monster from Inuit mythology.

As the appellation ‘ocean-spider’ implies, the Aasivarluit resembles a spider, albeit an unnaturally large one. It is a dangerous, giant animal and it was known to prey on unsuspecting kayakers by waiting underneath the surface of the sea and then pouncing upwards when a suitable victim appeared. In the absence of human prey, the monster was known to hunt walruses and seals for sustenance. 

It doesn’t appear to be a common creature in Inuit mythology, in fact, all references I could find only mention one single story about the Aasivarluit:

A man was kayaking near the coast of Nuuk, the capital of Greenland (although it was called Godthåb back then). Suddenly he saw a massive object beneath the waves, which confused him greatly because he was familiar with this location and he knew that there was no shoal nearby. He then remembered stories about giant aquatic spiders, and quickly deduced that this must be the thing that suddenly appeared beneath his kayak. Indeed, he looked down into the water and saw a giant eye.

But the man was a skilled kayaker and he managed to get away safely. It is said that a less experienced kayaker would certainly have perished in his situation. 

The idea of a giant oceanic spider that eats people might have originated as a cautionary tale (as in, don’t venture too far from the coast or the giant spider will eat you). While stories about giant animals are not uncommon in Inuit culture, the Aasivarluit is certainly a rather strange monster, considering that there are no marine spiders in real life (although there are freshwater spiders). Technically, sea spiders do exist, but they are spiders in name only: they belong to the class Pycnogonida whereas real spiders are Arachnida. They only share a vague resemblance (though there are some really pretty and weird sea spiders out there, I recommend googling them).

Sources: Rink, H., 1974, Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, Montreal, McGill-Queen’s University Press, first published 1875, 473 pp, p. 471. Christopher, N., 2013, The Hidden: a compendium of arctic giants, dwarves, gnomes, trolls, faeries, and other strange beings from Inuit oral history, 191 pp, p. 134-135. (image source: @another_maker on Instagram)