Fish
Fish denote aquatic life, fertility, renewal, divine nourishment, and resurrection, while specific traditions also treat them as offerings, taboos, ghosts’ food, or oracles.
Our paraphrase of what the sources say it carries.
At a glance
- Type
- Symbol
- Borne by
- 19 figures (14 are this, 5 carry it)
- Traditions
- Chinese mythology (2)Greek mythology (2)African folklore (general) (1)Ainu folklore (1) and 13 more
Figures that bear it
A model judged each figure against its own description, one term at a time. Is: the figure is a kind of this thing. Bears: it carries the thing or is marked by it. What a figure does is filed under motifs and powers. Open "why" for the sentence the judgement rests on.
- Ambize is African folklore (general)
why
The description is remarkably consistent across retellings and oddly domestic in its details: the head of a pig or an ox carried on a fish's body at enormous scale, with something like hands where the fins belong, and a tail both flattened and rounded — likened, in one telling, to an archery target.
- Amemasu is Ainu folklore
why
In Ainu folklore, Amemasu is a massive fish that resides in cold lakes.
- Bahamut is Arabian folklore
why
From Arabic mythology, Bahamut is an enormous fish that supports the Earth.
- Bishop-fish is European folklore (general)
why
From Medieval European bestiaries, the Bishop-fish is a sea creature with a human-like face and a mitre.
- Black Demon Shark is Modern cryptid (North American)
why
Its presence is said to induce a deep, instinctive fear in other marine life, causing schools of fish to scatter and even larger predators to flee.
- Dragon-Carp is Korean mythology
why
A Korean fish with a dragon's head and a carp's tail, who spoke from the net and repaid the fisherman who let him go.
- Gurangatch is Australian Aboriginal folklore
why
Gurangatch's body is often described as a fusion of fish and reptile, with scales that shimmer like burning embers and eyes that glow with an otherworldly intensity.
- Hippocampus is Greek mythology
why
In Greek mythology, the Hippocamp is a magnificent sea creature, possessing the head of a horse and the body of a fish.
- Ichthyocentaur is Greek mythology
why
The Ichthyocentaur is a creature from Greek mythology, part human, part horse, and part fish, embodying the fluidity of identity and the complexity of nature.
- Lamiak is Basque folklore
why
These mystical beings are often described as having the upper body of a beautiful woman, while their lower half resembles that of a fish or duck, drawing parallels to mermaids or sirens from other cultures.
- Liban is Irish folklore
why
Unable to endure her confinement any longer, Liban is said to have prayed to become a fish so that she might move freely through the water that had swallowed her home.
- Makara is Indian folklore
why
In Hindu and Buddhist mythology, the Makara is a composite sea-monster with the forequarters of a crocodile and the hindquarters of a fish, serving as the vahana of the river goddess Ganga and the water-god Varuna and appearing throughout South and Southeast Asian temple iconography.
and 7 more
- Peng / Kun is Chinese mythology
why
In Chinese mythology, the Peng is a gigantic bird that transforms from Kun, a giant fish.
- Sedna is Inuit mythology
why
Sedna is most often described as a woman transformed into a being of the deep, her lower body merging into that of a great fish or sea mammal, and her long hair, which she cannot comb herself, drifting loose in the currents around her.
- Amaru bears Quechua mythology
why
Amaru is typically described as a massive, serpentine creature, and in many tellings it is depicted as a composite or chimeric being combining features of a snake with those of other animals, such as the head of a llama, the wings of a condor, or the body parts of a fish, marking it as a boundary-crossing creature that belongs to no single domain.
- Luduan bears Chinese mythology
why
In Chinese mythology, the Luduan captivates with a lion's head, a rhino's horn, a dragon's body, bear paws, fish scales, and an ox's tail.
- Melusine bears French folklore
why
In French and broader medieval European folklore, Melusine is a water spirit who is a woman above the waist and a serpent (or serpent-and-fish) below, bound to a marriage vow that forbids her husband from seeing her true form on a fixed day.
- Nyami Nyami bears Tongan/Tonga (Zambezi) folklore
why
In Tonga folklore, Nyami Nyami is a river god, depicted as a serpent with a fish’s head.
- Sarimanok bears Philippine folklore
why
The Sarimanok is typically depicted with a fish held in its beak or claws, symbolizing sustenance and abundance.