ABSTRACT
IN the present treatise I have dealt with the huge diversity of fish species, which owing to the prevailing cold appear in greater profusion along northern shores than elsewhere. 1 Before I go on to describe sea monsters, I thought it might be desirable to insert a further brief section on their differences from each other, which are considerable even though almost all are water-dwellers. First there is a phenomenal type of fish, breath-taking in its size, which lives off the coast of Norway. It is similar to the creature called the whale, described by Pliny as covering three acres, and I shall have more details to give about this class of fish in my next book. 2
