Sea-dog
Latin name: | Canes maris |
Other names: | Canicularum, Caniculis, Dog-fish, Shark |
Category: | Fish |
The dog of the sea
General Attributes
The sea-dog appears in some medieval encyclopedias. It is said to hunt fish like wild dogs on land hunt prey. They are unable to bark like dogs; instead they have a terrible breath. They are the enemy of every living thing.
Some medieval "naturalists" believed that for every land animal there should be an equivalent marine animal; this idea is as old as Pliny the Elder's Natural History.
Reality
The sea-dog is probably the shark.