Sea monsters and their inspiration: serpents, mermaids, the kraken and more. A cetus was variously described as a sea monster or sea serpent. This ancient tale can be seen across Europe, but it was particularly prevalent in Dublin in the 19th century.

In the mythical tale of Perseus and Andromeda, Perseus was heading home after having beheaded Medusa when he stumbled upon a gorgeous woman chained up as food for a sea monster known as Cetus. (Credit: Public domain/Wikimedia Commons) As sea monsters go, names - and bodies - don’t get much bigger than the mighty kraken. But Norse mythology, with its compelling stories, complex characters and terrifying monsters, never really lost its foothold in Scandinavian thought and has heavily influenced contemporary 1. Chinese dragons occasionally had the features of turtles or fish, but most were serpentine. As decades passed, the beast’s legend grew larger and larger, with heroes in some of Norway’s first epic tales, like the Orvar-Oddr, having close encounters with the monster. The sea monster that got up close and personal. Ungaikyō A possessed mirror that distorts all reflections into monstrous images. Knucker (Old English origin) meaning “water monster”. At the time of receiving the Spot, he was the Captain of the mutineers. Many sea monsters include features from living animals. In the legend, the monster, called the Jasconius, breached the boat of Brendan because he also mistook it for an island. Nowadays, scientists and investigators believe that the Bunyip could be a now-extinct giant wombat known as the ‘diprotodon’ that lurked the inland waters 20,000 years ago, and the This single line from Pseudo-Apollodorus is the only one in which Charybdis is described as related to Scylla. Legendary sea monsters Legendary sea monsters While Scylla was bathing in the sea, the jealous Circe poured a baleful potion into the sea water which caused Scylla to transform into a frightful monster with six dog forms springing from her thighs.

Easy hippocampus mythology drawing