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In the absence of knowledge about life in the deep oceans, imagination and myth were rich alternatives. In the mid-16th century German cartographer Sebastian Münster created this woodcut incorporating elements of reality and fantasy. It was published in his work Cosmographia universalis. Modern-day exploration of the deep has revealed life forms just as bizarre.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
University of Otago Library, Special Collections, de Beer Collection
Reference: Sebastian Münster, Cosmographiae universalis lib. VI. Basel, 1559, pp. 852–853