verdantwinter:

historieofbeafts:

It’s been a while since we checked in on how the Renaissance is doing with its ocean mysteries, so here is a marine biology update circa 1550.

Seals come in two forms:

Buff

& Triangular

Walruses are horrifying

But whales are worse

Fish can have human faces

but not always where you’d expect

As for the rest

… it’s probably better left alone.

[All images except chest face fish from Historiae animalium liber IV : De piscium & aquatilium animantium natura. Chest face fish from The noble lyfe & natures of man of bestes, serpentys, fowles & fisshes yt be moste knowen]

Can you imagine thinking animals actually looked like this? Like I know there’s stylization here, but if I was an uneducated peasant in 1550 who saw these I might be religious too.