Name: Sea Serpent (Sea Dragon?)
Appearance: A sea serpent, or sea snake, is often told about in stories just as it sounds... it's a snake that swims in the water. Sometimes, however, it is depicted with limbs, more like a sea dragon (more on dragons in another post). Depending what myth you read or culture you are looking at, there are also depictions with crowns and pointy scales.
History: The variety of cultures that have ideas or depictions of sea serpents give rise to the concept that the idea must come from somewhere. That it is in fact some creature, though whether it was actually a sea snake or some other type of animal, is up for discussion. The Bible describes a sea serpent type creature known as the Leviathan. Mesopotamians have the Tiamat, Greek have several concepts of sea serpents, the mayans have Quetzalcoatl (though not strictly water-dwelling), Syrians mention a Leviathan, and Norse myths have the Jormungandr. There are others I haven't even listed.
Info: Out of the research I did on the sea serpent, one of the most interesting things I stumbled upon was Titanaboa. It was around 40 - 50 feet in length and was closely related to the anaconda, spending the majority of its time in water. Sounds pretty terrifying to me, a snake I could definitely see being described as a sea serpent. While the time period suggests this snake was older than many of the recent stories about serpents attacking ships, you have to wonder on timelines and creatures we don't know about, especially when it comes to the sea. Scientists also thought the giant squid and narwhals were myths until they found them. Whether you're a reader, a dreamer, or a scientist, a lot of what is said is merely guesses.
Check out the titanaboa here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCTKHHfsM7Y
Additional Notes: I don't like snakes. I mean, I don't mind them that much, I don't dislike and fear them as I do spiders. But I can't tell the venomous ones from the non-venemous, so if I encounter one in the wild, I will probably scream and jump away. If it's someone's pet, I'm a bit less jittery, but I wouldn't have one myself. Yet I found some information suggesting the sea serpents of myth were oarfish... I can't buy that. It looks so much like a snake in the old depiction... I think it's a snake. It's also called a sea serpent so... probably self-explanatory. There's a few sources who believe it could be a giant squid and the people who saw them mistook the tentacles for snakes. That makes more sense to me than the oarfish stories, especially since squid can be more aggressive and attack boats. However, I don't understand why we can't give credence to the idea that it's perhaps just a sea snake?
Credit and Additional Reading: If you found the above interesting and want to read more, check out: https://www.britannica.com/topic/sea-serpent and
Keep an eye out for the short story I will write about the sea serpent!
The Sea -
Part 1 (avail 10/17/24): https://www.ggmarshall.com/post/the-sea-part-1
Part 2 (avail 11/21/24): https://www.ggmarshall.com/post/the-sea-part-2
Part 3 (avail 12/19/24): https://www.ggmarshall.com/post/the-sea-part-3
Happy Adventuring,
G.G. Marshall
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