A very blue fish with an upstanding serrated back and a wide divided tail. It has two foot-like fins on its underbelly and some sort of red drooping structure around its neck. It has a pointed snout and an open mouth. There is a same-coloured blue worm-like structure extending from its snout. It has a large brown eye with a big black pupil. It is on a beige background patterned with reddish kelp-like blobs. The fish is in a rectangular frame with text above and below it. Image from Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 291 (De rerum naturis), folio 97r.
In medieval thought, there was a specific dolphin that lived in the Nile River. It had a serrated back which it used to kill crocodiles. This image is from a 1425 version of "De rerum naturis" by Rabanus Maurus (c780-856). #medievalmanuscripts #medievalbeasts #dolphins #dolphin #rabanusmaurus
