The following photographic-rich article is about the human-faced fish from the viewpoint of the visual anthropology and cryptozoology by Takeshi Yamada. Yamada is one of the most active artists in New York City and has had over 400 fine art exhibitions internationally with his paintings and sculptures. This comprehensive article features subject matters such as real human-faced animals, Renaissance time zoology, cult of Global Warming, real human-faced fish, real walking fish with arms and legs, real 12-legged fish, Jenny Haniver, rogue taxidermy artworks of human-faced fish, fish-human, American modern sideshow, gaffs, and other fascinating topics. This manuscript was produced by Dr. Eriko N. Bond, an active art critic and author in New York City, as told by Takeshi Yamada.

TAKESHI YAMADA

ON

HUMAN-FACED FISH

Chapter 8

魚人 (Gyojin or “fish-human”) / 半魚人 (Hango-jin or half-fish-human)

Just like this word, 魚人, is made of two Chinese pictograms, this animal has a fish-like upper body and a human-like lower body (or bipedal legs) in the general sense. Another interpretation of this Chinese pictogram is that this human-like creature has a predominately fish-like appearance since it’s covered with fish scales all over it’s body and has webbed hands/feet. There are several distinctive groups of the fish-humans.

The first group of the fish-human is called Jenny Haniver. The photograph shown below is a typical appearance of the mummified and preserved specimen of Jenny Haniver, sometimes seen at sideshows and cabinet of curiosities in Europeans countries and the United States. This flat-bodied animal has a devilish humanoid face, two arms, two legs and a long tail. Despite the fact that this is a humanoid sea creature, it lacks webbed hands or webbed feet. 

A common Human-like Jenny Haniver.

American Dime Museum in Baltimore, Maryland

Jenny Haniver has two meanings. In the general sense, Jenny Haniver refers to any rogue taxidermy or creative taxidermy made of sea creatures. Unlike normal taxidermy, it is not a life-like representation of when it was alive at all. The mummified mermaid is also one of the Jenny Hanivers in this classification. In the more specific sense, Jenny Haniver means an artificial monster made of the mutilated body of a common skate or ray.

Based on the degree of mutilation of the original creature (skate of ray), the Jenny Haniver has also been called many different names. Examples includes: Sea Devil, Sea Bird, Devil Fish, Devil Woman, Dragon, Baby Dragon, Chupacabra, Alien from the Outer Space, etc.  

Baby Dragon and Sea Eagle are variations of the Jenny Haniver made of the mutilated large skate or ray.

The Jenny Haniver is a very traditional rogue taxidermy artwork. The wording of “traditional” and “rogue” used together sounds strange and even outrageous but that is exactly what it is. It is “traditional” because it has been around for many centuries. The Sea Eagle featured above is in the zoology encyclopedia Monsters and Marvels by Ambroise Paré in 1573. This monster has also become a cultural & financial asset of novelty stores and gift shops in the community. It is “rogue” because this is not a realistic presentation of the creature when it was alive - in fact, the original animal’s body was intentionally mutilated upon after its death for the sole purpose of providing shock, amusement, and entertainment in people’s eyes and minds. This human-made monster has been produced by people for many centuries and is considered one of the essential (yet quite affordable) classical oddities in the Cabinet of Curiosities by discriminating collectors.

The second category of the fish-human (several varieties) has been also featured in numerous Renaissance zoological encyclopedias. Nevertheless, unlike Jenny Hanivers, there are no taxidermy specimens or body fragments of these sea monsters anywhere in the world (even at the novelty shops). The famous examples of this category of monsters are the Sea Monk and Sea Bishop.

The Sea Monk is named not because this fish preached Christian teaching in human language but because it’s appearance resembles that of the Catholic Monk. The same thing can be said of the Sea Bishop. In short, these monsters resembled their familiar religious leaders of the time.

(left) In 1850s, Japetus Steenstrup compared a squid with two drawings of the Sea Monk from the sixteenth century.

(right) Sea Bishop featured in Historia Monstrorum, 1642

Regrettably, despite the invention of deep sea scientific research submarines in recent decades, neither of these creatures’, bodies, body fragments, natural habitats, sub species, or any trace of their stable population were discovered nor examined by any degreed professional marine biologists. This fact does not negate the possible existence of these sea monsters in the past. We can only say they are more likely to be apocryphal.

An illustration of a giant squid from the original edition of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

Nevertheless, this type of generalized statement does not apply to all the mythical sea monsters. The giant squid is one such example. Giant squid, once believed to be mythical creatures, are squid of the Architeuthidae family, represented by as many as eight species of the genus Architeuthis. They are deep-ocean dwelling animals that can grow to a tremendous size: recent estimates put the maximum size at 13 meters (43 ft) for females and 10 meters (33 ft) for males from caudal fin to the tip of the two long tentacles (second only to the colossal squid at an estimated 14 meters (46 ft), one of the largest living organisms). The mantle is only about 2 meters (7 ft) long (more for females, less for males), and the length of the squid excluding its tentacles is about 5 meters (16 ft). There have been claims reported of specimens of up to 20 meters (66 ft), but no animals of such size have been scientifically documented.

This giant squid is about 10 meters (33 feet) long and weighs a world record 450 kilograms.

This killer monster is about 150 kilograms heavier than the next biggest specimen ever found.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23830744/

On September 30, 2004, researchers from the National Science Museum of Japan and the Ogasawara Whale Watching Association took the first images of a live giant squid in its natural habitat. Several of the 556 photographs were released a year later. The same team successfully filmed a live giant squid for the first time on December 4, 2006.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_squid)

Note: Illustrations shown above are all featured in the real, authentic, and academic scientific literatures and publications. For better or worse, at least, scientists tried to the best of their ability to do their job to serve the people and the world with great pride and honor at their time.

(left) Monk-culf                          (right) Pope-ass

Nevertheless, at that time, for the sole purpose of attacking their religious leaders, by the hands of ill-minded people (NOT scientists), two monstrous animals’ illustrations were also manufactured and distributed to masses. They were Monk-culf and Pope-ass. In 1523, the reformer Martin Luther published an inflammatory pamphlet entitled Of Two Wonderful Popish Monsters. The pamphlet described the recent appearance of two monsters shown above. They declared these bizarre creatures had been created by God to demonstrate through living allegory his displeasure with the Catholic Church. It was one of the biggest religious Reformations or Revolutions in the history of Christianity. Their religious and political propaganda was so deliberate and aggressive. A 1579 English translation of the pamphlet warns the reader against taking the monsters as "mere fables". Rather, they should "fear and tremble at the sight of such prodigious monsters" which are manifest signs of "the ire and wrath of God".

As you can see here, each and every body part is allegorical and intended to produce a broad political/religious satire on Christianity and papal authority. For instance, the pope-ass, according to Melancthon, is the image of the Church of Rome; and just as it is awful that a human body should have the head of an ass, so it is likewise horrible that the Bishop of Rome should be the head of the Church. Similarly, the overly large ears of the calf-monk exhibit God's denouncement of the practice of hearing confessions, so important to the monks, while the hanging tongue shows that their doctrine is nothing but frivolous prattle.

What is so fascinating about these hybrid monsters to this author is that these are not sea monsters; these cartoons of fictional beasts are 4-legged land animals and bird standing on two legs. There must be a uniquely specific human psychology behind not using sea creatures as the base of these hideous monsters for this purpose then. Takeshi Yamada explains it as following. For the people in the Middle Age, creatures living in the sea was equivalent to alien monsters living in the planet in the another galaxy to us in the 20the Century. For the purpose of representing believable illustrations for masses to convey their political propaganda, artists must used the familiar land animals’ body parts to formulate this monstrous fantasy monsters. Even today 2008, the sea is still full of mysteries – in fact, only 5% of the sea was explored by humans so far.   

Continue to Chapter 9

Copyright by Takeshi Yamada, Museum of World Wonders in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York, October 2007. Revised in July 2008. All Rights Reserved.    

E-mail: yamada108@verizon.net

Special thanks to Dr. Eriko N. Bond, Lauren D. Travis, Maremi Kakushina, Abraham Morris, and Seara (Sea Rabbit).

Also special thanks to Steve Stickney (Senior Proofreader)

http://www.sideshowworld.com/SSA-15.html

http://www.roguetaxidermy.com/members_detail.php?id=528

http://www.horseshoecrab.org/poem/feature/takeshi.html

http://www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/events/exhibitions/other/worldwonders.jsp

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