ANIMALS, PEOPLE AND THOSE IN BETWEEN
When the fish is hungry it opens its mouth very wide, and breathes forth an exceedingly sweet odor. Then all the little fish stream thither, and, allured by the sweet smell, crowd into its throat. Then the whale closes its jaws and swallows them into its stomach, which is as wide as a valley.
– Bartholomaeus Anglicus [13th century CE] (De proprietatibus rerum, book 13)
The monstrous whale known as aspidochelone was characterized by two distinctive behaviors. First, the whale possessed the ability to entrap its prey, usually fish, through the emission of a sweet, seductive odor released from its mouth. Unsuspecting fish were attracted by the scent, only to be devoured when the whale’s cavernous mouth snapped shut.
– “Bad to the bone”? The Unnatural History of Monstrous Medieval Whales
This poem is so fun to say aloud and it nearly is sensible:
Cethegrande is a fis, / The moste that in water is. / That thu wuldes seien get, / Gef thu it soge wan it f let, / That it were a neilond / That sete one the se sond. / This fis that is unride, / Thanne him hungreth he gapeth wide; / Ut of his throte it smit an onde, / The swetteste thing that is o londe. / Therfore othre fisses to him dragen. / Wan he it felen he aren fagen. / He cumen and hoven in his muth; / Of his swike he am uncuth. / This cete thanne his chaveles luketh, / Thise fisses alle in suketh. /
– Middle English Bestiary (British Library Arundel MS 292) [13th century]
When whales were monsters…
In medieval society, animals served as “scapegoats, mirror images and representations of human reality.
– "Bad to the bone”? The Unnatural History of Monstrous Medieval Whales
teratology now means a study of deformity, in the olden days it referred to monsters
writhing sea monsters of the deep… whales were monstrous
hell lay inside their mouths (jonah’s experience)
they were often depicted with horns and scales.
Isidore of Seville [7th century CE] (Etymologies, Book 12, 6:6): Whales (ballenae) conceive through coition with the sea-mouse. (Book 12, 6:7-8): Whales are immense beasts, with bodies equal to mountains. They have their name from emitting water, for the Greek ballein means emit; they raise waves higher than those of any other sea beast. They are called monsters (cete) because of their horribleness. The whale that swallowed Jonah was of such size that its belly resembled hell; as Jonah says (Jonah 2:2): “He heard me from the belly of hell.” – medieval bestiary
Hexavalent chromium (chromium-6) is a toxin found in tissue samples of sperm whales. It’s a known carcinogen, mutagen and teratogen (”makes monstrous”). A compound used in the pigment and metal industries, it can easily make its way into water sources and out into the ocean if industry’s proper waste disposal methods are sloppy or ignored.
NOTES:
“hexavalent chromium is a major baddie for whales, corroding the genetic material in their cells and increasing their risk for cancer and reproductive problems. I didn’t realize that we all cross hexavalent chromium’s path pretty much every day. It’s in rust inhibitors, paints, dyes and inks. The yellow lines on our roads have hexavalent chromium in them. It’s even cast in the movie Erin Brockovitch as the antagonist. Still, listening to Wise tell me about his research on it, it’s remarkable to learn that in the entire big blue sea there’s enough hexavalent chromium to make its way into sperm whales and endanger their health.”
– Ocean Alliance Toxic Gulf sperm whale research 2010-2015
Tissue biopsy is a commonly used technique of obtaining skin and blubber samples from cetaceans at sea. A crossbow is used to fire purpose-made darts, with special tips, at the side or back of the animal. The darts are designed so that on impact with the animal they penetrate through the skin and a couple of centimetres of blubber and then pop back out. They do not penetrate anywhere near the muscle of the animal. The dart has a float attached to one end so that when it pops out of the whale it floats and can easily be retrieved from the sea. Tissue biopsy with a crossbow is used throughout the oceans of the world to obtain these samples, and animals rarely show any response, besides the occasional flick of the tail, to being darted. The overwhelming majority of animals that have been darted continue behaving as they were before darting and re-approach the small boat or ship.
– CCPO
Here is a very detailed account of sperm whale darting using a compound bow, to obtain biopsies, (1990)
A video of biopsy sampling using a compound bow