Fish as a marvelous creature in myths and manuscripts: An overview

Myths, legends and marvelous creatures constitute an integral part of cultural, his-torical and literary heritage of all nations. Myths and legends are the subjects of studies in various fields such as literature, psychology, linguistics, folklore, etc. yet they have not been discussed in detail in the field of ichthyology. This paper is an attempt to review available information on what is considered as fish in myths and manuscripts including a historical text, Qazwini’s book (published in 1263 A.D.), those which are available in the museums around the world and those obtained during the fieldwork carried out in 2015 in some regions of Hor-muzgan Province, Iran. It seems that aquatic creatures, especially fishes, have been at the cen-ter of human thought for thousands of years, considering them as a blessed or hated creatures having a variety of forms with different faces resembling a human, snake, owl, cat or other animals, which are oriented with human beliefs, cultures and traditions.