Leviathan, obviously

i-04b536b52e14936fa57d713734087a83-leviathan.gif

If they're going to be that uninformed about the perilous sea beasts they encounter, they deserve to spend eternity in Davy Jones' Locker, mastering monstrous taxonomy.

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It doesn't seem to fit either the behemoth of leviathan categories. How about choice "C", a Kracken?

Is that a Michael behe-moth?

By Why Grandma, I… (not verified) on 03 May 2007 #permalink

Oh come on! It's obviously a plesiosaur since "Behemoth" and "Leviathan" are clearly Biblical references to dinosaurs.

See what happens when you go to school to get all book-smart? You suddenly start paying your taxes and you don't know that anything big in the water must be a plesiosaur. Seriously.

If these sailors can't be bothered to realize that Behemoth was not a sea monster, they deserved to be all washed up.

Suppose there's any chance of a scary tentacle reaching up from the abyss to strangle that spammer and drag him down into the dark, frigid depths?

If not, I vote "human sacrifice". Shub Niggurath, the goat of the woods with a thousand young, must be appeased. Ia! Ia!

OT, but the BBC news site currently has a link to a video of 'Octopus performs bottle trick'.

I'm ashamed to admit that my first interpretation of 'bottle trick' was quite smutty.

Monstrous taxonomy - that sounds like another job for UU to put Rincewind in charge of.

It's not a plesiosaur, because it has tentacles with suckers on.

I vote with Diego for Kraken. Always wanted me one of those.....

Is it just me, or would it be really cool to see that cartoon done as a free-standing bronze?

Alternatively, as a plastic lawn ornament.

Their mistake is understandable. It used to be Leviathans in the Pacific and Behemoths in the Atlantic. Unfortunately, the Panama Canal has allowed cross breeding, and so the line between the two species is getting blurred.

By hyperdeath (not verified) on 04 May 2007 #permalink

The 1979 Book of Common Prayer seems to indicate that Leviathan was the Almighty's idea of a joke:

"There move the ships, and there is that Leviathan, which you have made for the sport of it." Ps. 104:27

Clearly this one is having fun. :-)

By Bill Sheehan (not verified) on 04 May 2007 #permalink

Re Bill @14:

Maybe we should take "sport" more literally there.

Leviathan:God::Lion:Romans

Thumbs up or down for the next ship taken? ;^)

It looks to me like that pretty little squid has gotten tangled up with a ship. So I vote ship. Dangerous things. Removes fish and spills oil and runs into corals. Perhaps the worse sea monsters...

Is that one of those arks that if built large enough, can carry two of every species?

hyperdeath (#14),

Is that transoceanic hybrid vigor the likely source of these leviathans of Farscape in deep space?

Physiology:
Leviathans are made of both biological and mechanical systems, and are therefore biomechanoid. They have a thick outer skin capable of keeping a pressurized atmosphere inside, and also generate a bioelectric field that can keep small openings in the hull from venting atmosphere. Holes in the hull are repaired by symbiotic organisms called Hodian trill bats, whose excrement is a sealant. Other maintenance details are handled by mechanical DRDs, terrier-sized droids that the Leviathan manufactures.
Inside, the Leviathan consists of countless corridors and compartments. ...

I'll go with kraken myself. Behemoth was the hippo writ large, while Leviathan was descended from Abzu via Tiamat, and first cousin to Serpent. The whole struggle between God and Leviathan (which somebody left mention of in the Book of Job) is basically the tiff between Marduk and Tiamat shifted back to before The Creation instead of after.