During oceanic voyages, particularly when approaching islands and coasts, the sailors had the opportunity to observe a diverse array of birds, fish, insects, and animals. Among these observations, there are intriguing accounts of unusual phenomena, offering a unique glimpse into the natural world’s complexities. One specific account stands out – a potential early depiction of the behaviour known as “apparent death”, in which animals assume a motionless state, often triggered by a predatory attack. This behavior is illustrated by the astonishment of the pilot of the ship “Espera”, who saw a sizable white fish lying on its back. On June 2, 1537, en route from Lisbon to Diu, while navigating 400 leagues away from the Tristan da Cunha Islands, the pilot penned the following note:
Here I saw a sign unlike anything I had seen before in my life. It appeared as something as large as a loaf of bread, as white as snow, gliding over the water resembling cotton. Whenever a bird landed nearby, it would sink beneath the surface. I encountered two or three of these. They were fish-resembling rodents, and they would flip over at will, exposing their very white bellies. Upon sensing any approach, they would swiftly change the position of their belly. (Quoted from A. Fontoura da Costa, Livro de marinharia de Bernardo Fernandes, Lisboa, 1940, pp. 142-143.)
Such a description seems to align well with the pufferfish. When frightened or irritated, the pufferfish inflates its body, like a rubber ball, and floats upside down for a while until it releases the air, allowing it to dive again. Apart from extraordinary phenomena like the one of the pufferfish, there were recurrent interactions with other various animals and species. In previous posts, we explored observations of seabirds, seaweeds, snakes, or even butterflies. A frequent encounter was with gelatinous organisms, commonly referred to in documents as “caravelas da Guiné” (or Caravels of Guinea), characterized by their vivid red or blue hues. In 1547, pilot Bernardo Fernandes recorded an abundance of small jellyfish akin to “caravelas da Guiné” near the Tristan da Cunha Islands. Notably, he even managed to capture one, confirming its blue colour. This organism likely corresponds to the “Portuguese man-of-war” (Physalia physalis), given its striking resemblance to a Portuguese caravel ship in full sail. As we can observe, while the attribution of “Portuguese” was applied at a later time, the analogy to the “caravel”, along with its connection to the Guinea coast and the India run, was already firmly established itself in the Portuguese navigators’ lexicon, as demonstrated by records of the early 16th century. [Luana Giurgevich]
