whale that lingered in the harbor for three days Sea Monk

in the 1670s. The settlers knew they had to try
to capture it, but to accomplish this, a black-
smith had to fashion the island’s first harpoon.
Possible explanations:
(1) At one time, it was thought to be a
juvenile Northern right whale (Eubalaena
glacialis).
(2) Now universally considered to have been
a North Atlantic population of the Gray
whale (Eschrichtius robustus), hunted to
extinction by the eighteenth century. A
subfossil jaw discovered in 1977 at
Southampton, New York, was identified in
1984 as a gray whale radiocarbon-dated to
approximately 1710. This species is
currently found only in the Pacific.
Sources: Paul Dudley, “An Essay upon the
Natural History of Whales,” Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society 33 (1725):
256–269; Obed Macy, The History of
Nantucket (Boston: Hilliard, Gray, 1835); A.
B. van Deinse and G. C. A. Junge, “Recent
and Older Finds of the California Gray Whale
in the Atlantic,” Temminckia 2 (1937):
161–187; James G. Mead and Edward D.
Mitchell, “Atlantic Gray Whales,” in Mary
Lou Jones, Steven L. Swartz, and Stephen
Leatherwood, eds., The Gray Whale:
Eschrichtius robustus (Orlando, Fla.: Academic
Press, 1984), pp. 33–53.
Odd-looking CEPHALOPOD or FISH.
Variant names: JENNY HANIVER, Monachus
marinus, Monkfish, Sea bishop.
Physical description: Sea animal with human
features resembling a monk. Length, 8 feet.
Head is like a man’s, with a monk’s tonsure.
Body is a scarlet color with speckles. Upper
body is covered by a cape. Two long fins instead
of arms. Broad, bilobate tail.
Behavior: Makes a sighing noise.
Distribution: Øresund, Denmark.
Significant sighting: In 1546, a monklike fish
was caught in the Øresund Strait off Malmö,
Sweden. It lived in captivity for three days.
Possible explanations:
(1) A squid of some kind, possibly a small
Architeuthis, suggested by Japetus Steenstrup
in 1854.
(2) A curio manufactured from various sea
creatures. Similar to a JENNY HANIVER.
Sources: Pierre Belon, L’histoire naturelle des
étranges poissons marins (Paris: Regnaud

Sea Dog
SEA MONSTER of the coast of British Columbia,
Canada.
Etymology: From a Haida-Tlingit (Na-Dené)
word.
Variant name: Tsemaus.
Physical description: Tusks. Dorsal fin. Wings.
Four legs. Flat tail.
Behavior: Amphibious.
Distribution: Masset Inlet and Moresby Is-
land in the Queen Charlotte Islands, British
Columbia.
SEA MONK caught in Scandinavia in 1546. From
Source: Mary Moon, Ogopogo (Vancouver, Guillaume Rondelet, Libri de piscibus marinus (Lyon,
Canada: J. J. Douglas, 1977), pp. 162–164. France: Matthiam Bonhomme, 1554). (From the original
in the Special Collections of Northwestern University
Library)

SEA MONK 477