Alexis is an Ocean Detective Agent. One day, Jake, a fisherman, visited her with a fine tuna with several circular shallow holes. Alexis starts her investigation to find out what has happened to the tuna. She asks her friend Hector the dolphin. Surprisingly, Hector says that he has the same experience that something has made a nasty bite and left a hole on his body just like the one on the tuna. It seems the mysterious creature is hiding somewhere close in the sea. What kind of creature is responsible for those nasty bites? Alexis goes to the ocean to find out. What will she encounter and can she solve this mystery?

Northern Sea Monster - Kraken -

Kraken is the legendary sea monster which living in near Norway coast and off coast of Greenland. It is said that Erick Pontoppidan, bishop of Bergen city, Norway mentioned kraken in his book, Natural History of Norway (1752-53). According to his book kraken is a colossal size animal, it would match small island in size. There is no doubt that kraken itself is a lethal creature for ships and crews, but the whirl pool which created by kraken is real danger. He also said that an immature mature kraken was once washed up on beach.

Although kraken is often described as a huge octopus or giant squid, it is also said crab-like creature. Since once you saw kraken your chance of survive was slim, there was not many people seeing Kraken. But some explained that most of its time kraken dwelled on bottom of the ocean and feed on fish surrounding it.

As octopus is common ingredient in Japanese cuisine, there is countless folklore on octopus. One of the legends in 18 century told that giant octopus had been stealing cows every nights to eat and also drug the enormous serpent into the sea. It might be Asian kraken.

Tiger Head with fish body - Shachihoko -

Shachi means a killer whale in Japanese, but it also indicates an imaginary animal of which head is tiger and body is fish with spines on its back. Shachi appears in Japanese encyclopedia “the Wakan Sansai Zue” published in 1712. The legend of Shachi probably came from Ancient Chinese geography and mythology book” Shan Hai Jing”.

Shachihoko is the ornamental sculpture formed Shachi that often placed on the rooftop of castles or temples in Japan, because Shachi blows water to put out a fire.

Oda Nobunaga who was a great territorial lord during the Warring States period in Japan first started putting Shachihoko on his castle. After that many of castles in Japan were decorated with Shachihoko. One of the popular styles of Shachihoko is the one covered with gold.

TheResucuer Mouse - Daikokuten -

Daikokuten is the one of the Seven Gods of Fortune in Japanese mythology. The origin of Daikokuten derived from the Hindu god called Mahakala that means great darkness. Mahakala is another name of the destructive deity Shiva in the Hindu. On the other hand Daikokuten turns to the Gods of luck, wealth and treasure in Japan. Daikokuten also links with Okuninushi who is the one of the divinities in Japanese Shinto.

Daikokuten fell in love with the daughter of Susanoo who was famous God for his barbarous behavior in Japanese Shinto. Susanoo ordered Daikokuten to do three duties.

First Daikokuten had to stay in a house with many venomous snakes. Second night was hornets and centipedes. With the daughter’s help he managed to survive. Third he had to find the arrow lost in the field, but Susanoo set on fire to kill him. Then one mouse appeared in front of him and led him to the escape route. He entered the underground hole to wait the fire passed and then the mouse brought the arrow to him. Since then the mouse has represented Daikokuten.

Death and Resurrection - Vulture -

Ares is the God of war in Greek myth and called Mars in Roman myth. The symbols of Ares are the shield, spear, dogs and Vultures. As the Greek God Ares does not have good reputation because of his violent, cruel and destructive nature. Vultures are scavengers and often associated with death. Perhaps those images are linked to war.

On the other hand Romans had considered Mars to be the peace maker and guardian of agriculture. In ancient Egypt vultures were the symbol of productivity and resurrection.

The Giant Turtle in Genesis - Kurma -
Avatar of Vishnu

Vishnu is the one of the Hindu deities and the top five gods as well as Shiva. The blue skin of Vishnu probably represents infinity of the blue sky and ocean. It is also said that Vishnu is the symbol of the power of sun. Vishnu usually holds chakra (the wheel shaped weapon, symbol of destruction and creation) and a mace (the symbol of wisdom) in his right hands, a conch(represents roots of existence) and lotus flower(sun) in his left hands.

Vishnu has 10 different forms on the earth known as Avataras. In the legend one Avatar is fish which saved mankind when the flood covers the world. Second Avatar is the giant turtle called Kurma which appeared in the Genesis story “Churning of the Ocean of Milk” in Hinduism. In the legend Kurma sustained the mount Mandara to help Gods and demons to stir the ocean to create the world.

Pelican Story

In Christian legend Pelican is the symbol of self-sacrifice and resurrection. When food shortage was so severe that mother pelican did not have any food to feed her young, mother gave her own blood to them in this legend.

There is another story of pelican in Egypt. One pelican gave birth and brought up babies very carefully. When young pelicans grew up strong, they struck their mother’s face. Then involuntary she struck back and killed them. As she felt remorse for her young’s death, she opened her flank and poured her blood over the bodies. Then the young revived from the dead.

The Captain of Hell's prison    - Ox-head and Horse-face -

Ox-head and Horse-face appear in Chinese and Japanese mythology and novels. They are captain of Hell’s guardians and lead dead souls to Hell’s gate. Hell’s guardians are called “oni” which means demons or ogres in Japanese.

In some stories Ox-head and Horse-face are depicted as servants of Yama. Yama is the ruler of the underworld and judges whether a dead soul should go to Hell or Heaven.

The reason why they have ox head and horse face is unknown. Perhaps cattle and horses have been always important for humans as rides, company and food since the Paleolithic age.

Mighty Bird Garuda

Garuda is portrayed as an eagle or creature has the golden human body with eagle head and red wings. In some places Garuda is also depicted as the ride of Hindu God or Indian mythological God Vishnu.

Because Garuda eat snakes and dragons that people fear, Garuda is worshipped by many people in India and Southeast Asia. Moreover Garuda is so powerful that even Gods are afraid of his power and Vishnu asked Garuda to be his ride.

Garuda is also symbol of speed, bravery and intelligence.

Scorpion Goddess    - Serket -

Serket is the Egyptian Goddess protects life and death. She is usually depicted as a woman with a scorpion on her head or as a scorpion. The name “Serket” means that the one who tightens the throat or causes the throat to breathe.

In Egypt poisonous animals such as scorpions or snakes is a serious threat to people. As Serket protects people from being bitten by snakes or stung by scorpions, she is considered a highly important Goddess. She even protects Gods such as Isis or Neith.

The messenger of the God    - Hen -

Amaterasu is the goddess of the Sun in Japan. When one of the Japanese Gods called Susanoo who is the God of darkness and the sea was on the rampage, Amaterasu hid herself in the cave to escape from Susanoo. Then the darkness covers all over. The other gods in Japan tried to persuade Amaterasu to come out and came up one idea. That was to gather hens and have them sing for Amaterasu. Finally Amaterasu opened the gate of the cave to see what was going on.

Since then Hens have been reared at Shinto shrines in Japan. They are messenger of the Gods.

Mouse Rider    - Ganesha -

Ganesha is the God that is worshipped widely in India and Pakistan. He brings success and removes obstacles and misfortune. He is also patron of education and wisdom. The big belly of Ganesha is the symbol of ability to accept all wishes. That is why people love Ganesha!

The ride of Ganesha is mouse. Mouse is the symbol of desire and selfishness. So riding on mouse means that Ganesha overcomes those.

The name Ganesha consists of two words, gana and isha. Gana means a group or multitude and Isha means lord or master in Sanskrit.

But in Tamil Ganesha means “ little child”.

Thoth the God with Ibis head

Thoth is the Egyptian God, who created writing and alphabets. Therefore he is considered as the patron of wisdom, magic and religion. He is also the inventor of calendar and science.

Furthermore Thoth is the scribe of Maat which is the moral law for both the Gods and humans. Since Maat sustains the principal of the Universe, Thoth can be represented as the author of the Universe.

The appearance of Thoth has several forms. One is the man with the head of an ibis. Another is entirely an ibis or a baboon.

Odin’s raven

Odin is the supreme god of Norse mythology prevailing among Scandinavian people. Odin controls wisdom, war, death and magic. His weapon is the Gungnir which is the spear never misses its target.

Odin always looks over the world from his hall, Valaskjálf through his two ravens. One is called Huginn as the symbol of thought and another is called Muninn as the memory. They fly over around the globe during the day and turn the hall to inform their master of what they saw in the night.

The Eagle and Crabs in the Greek mythology

The story is from that of Prometheus or Tityus.

Prometheus is punished for his theft. He stole the fire from Gods and gave it to human. Zeus, king of the Gods, got angry furiously and chained Prometheus to mount Caucasus. On the mountain Prometheus is tormented by the giant eagle which eats the liver of Prometheus day after day. The liver grows back during the night because Prometheus is immortal. Although the punishment seems to last forever, Prometheus is rescued by Heracles who shot the giant eagle.

The symbols of Zeus are bull, oak and eagle. The crabs might represent the arrival of Heracles.