#meerwunder

Thanks for the information!  I drew from this Albrecht Dürer print (1498-1500) that is admittedly, slightly earlier than the map (1581).  Now I wonder, was this term in general use at the time and therefore appropriate for the map, and has fallen out of use?  Or was it Dürer’s creation and idiosyncratic? 

Known to the modern world as "The Sea Monster", Dürer knew this work, in his own language, as "Das Meerwunder".

An informative discussion of the image and its iconography has been undertaken by Panofsky (The life and art of Albrecht Durer: Princeton University Press; 1945)who suggests that the subject may relate to:

"...one of those anonymous atrocity stories which, though ultimately of classical origin, were currently reported a having taken place in recent times and in a familiar environment. Poggio Bracciolini, for instance, relates a tale wherein the horrifying story of a Triton, told in Pausanias's description of Tanagra, is transferred to the fifteenth century and to the coast of Dalmatia. A monster, half human, half piscine, with little horns and a flowing beard, was in the habit of abducting children and young girls enjoying themselves on the beach, until it was killed by five determined washerwomen."

Regardless of the explanation behind Dürer's illustration, it is undoubtedly a true Masterpiece that is packed with symbolism.

Below, we show detail from this marvelous illustration by Dürer.