My Life in Sea Creatures: A young queer science writer’s reflections on identity and the ocean

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There was one stunning paragraph where the author knows she is being hypocritical, but is talking only of her own half-Chinese ethnicity and complaining of it. I am complaining about the moment when the Asian woman's parentage is explained by one white person to another - Chinese mom and Jewish dad - like a caption, a specimen ID. The Abaia is a huge, magical eel from Melanesian mythology that lives in the bottom of the freshwater lakes of Fiji, Solomon, and Vanuatu islands. This mythical sea creature is said to be very protective of the creatures living in the lake and if anyone tries to fish from the lake where the Abaia lives, they will encounter a tremendous wave resulting from the protective thrashing of the Abaia’s tail. The Cirein-Croin or Ceirean, is a mythical sea creature from Scottish/Gaelic folklore. The Cirein-Croin is a very large sea monster who has also been described as a dinosaur. He is so feared that legend tells that only the devil himself could kill The Cirein-Croin. Because he can swallow 7 whales and then disguise himself as a small silverfish when encountered, he is the 2 nd scariest mythical sea creature on record. 33. FinFolk Rusalka is a Slavic term describing a female mythical sea creature, namely a mermaid, who is hostile in her dealings with humans. She is said to be either the soul of a child who died unbaptized or a virgin who drowned. She inhabits the Danube river and her counterparts allegedly live in parts of France and Germany. Beautiful and charming, Rusalka is also said to be vile and cunning. 40. Chessie

Mermen are the male mythical sea creature counterpart to the mermaid. They are men from the waist up and fish from the waist down. They range from hideous in some folklore accounts to handsome in others. 13. Nereid I really liked this book. It was funny, interesting, sad, and educational. It made me long for a world where people do not see your color, or who you are attracted to, and judge you off of it. It also made me feel bad for these creatures. As bad as we are to other humans, we are even worse to creatures we do not understand. Torturing jellyfish to make them rebirth, or using a special machine to literally shred thousands into little pieces. Ripping mothers away from their eggs, leaving all the eggs to die, because they want to study them. Polluting the rivers and causing one of the oldest existing fish to start dying out. The list goes on, why can't humans just let creatures live? Most scholars believe that sailors who encountered giant squid living off the coast of Norway and Greenland most likely spun their likeness into a monster, and named it the Kraken. Us Everlasting: immortal jellyfish actually revert to polyp stage ('ontogeny reversal'). This piece attempts some more poetic license, using second person narrative at times, as well as talking about different lives. "Its immortality is active. It is constantly aging in both directions, always reinventing itself." From Norweigan folklore, there emerges yet another sea/lake monster who goes by the name of Selma. Said to live in Lake Seljord in Norway, this mythical sea creature is alleged to have been sighted numerous times since the 1750’s. Many say that it resembles a long anaconda-like snake, and a reptilian monster with a head like a horse. 31. Mussie

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From a brooding octopus mother that starves herself while looking after her eggs we get the author's thoughts on their relationship with their mother and their unhealthy body image. From the life of a Chinese Sturgeon we get their thoughts on their grandmother and mother's origins in China and their family's immigration to the US. Particularly harrowing is their essay on the Sand Striker Worm (formerly named after an abuser whose penis was severed by his victim) and their thoughts on consent and sexual assault in their own life. There are many more essays here as well, each fascinating for the illustrations they provide for all the identities that the author embodies. If You Flush a Goldfish: I had no idea how devastating goldfish were in the environment, which makes the fact that they are so common a little bit horrifying. I would have wanted to learn a little more about this. I understand that this is a childhood fascination, but given where the essay ended, with a story of mutually discovered transformation, I would have chosen a different water creature. Perhaps a coral, which utilize a variety of reproductive techniques and go through some cool physical transformations. Watch out for the bit where humble pet goldfish are released into open water and all hell breaks loose This book] marks the arrival of a phenomenal writer creating an intellectual channel entirely their own, within which whales and feral goldfish swim by the enchantment, ache, and ecstasy of human life"

In Greek mythology, The Cetus was a deadly sea monster pursued by both Perseus and Heracles. The Cetus constellation, “whale” is located near other water-related constellations such as Aquarius, Pisces, and Eridanus. 28. Akkorokamui I also thought thematically the connections between the sea creatures and Imbler's life didn't quite resonate. Although I loved the idea of combining these two disparate genres, the execution didn't work for me. That said, I learned a lot of cool stuff about the ocean and its inhabitants that I won't forget and I appreciated getting this information from a queer feminist mixed race perspective. I would have liked a book that was just that better, I think. SN: How did you approach thinking and writing about the corporeal in the context of thinking about bodies of people and sea creatures, and also thinking and feeling your way around your body and your own corporeal experiences? As the title suggests, in each essay Imbler takes a sea creature — an octopus that starves while guarding its eggs for four years, a giant worm called a sand striker, a rogue goldfish, a yeti crab — and writes about its life while extrapolating into themes of family, loneliness, queerness, community care, assault, and the extreme beauty and precarity of Earth and its vast oceans. One essay about whale fall, which is when the body of a dead whale lands at the bottom of the ocean, providing vital nutrients to other sea creatures, and necropsy reports might make you cry; Imbler’s prose manages to be both poignant and very funny. This book is perfect for anyone who ever feels curious about or in awe of sea creatures, humanity, and the vast emotional landscapes inside ourselves. Like a mythical sea creature from Japanese folklore, the Akkorkamui is a gigantic octopus. He is believed to reside in the waters off of Funka Bay and is said to be about 390 feet long. He is entirely red in appearance and is big enough to swallow whole boats and whales In one big gulp. He is also known to frequent the nearby waters of Taiwan and Korea. 29. Kaijin

Leatherback turtle

I admit that I feel bad that I didn't like this as much as everyone else did. I really loved the first two essays. I loved all the essays, really. It's having them all in one book that was not really for me. According to the mythology of Cantabria located in the north of Spain, there exists a mythical sea creature known as the Fish-man of Lierganes. It has been noted that the Fish-Man looks like an amphibious, human being who has come to resemble a man who has been lost at sea for quite some time. 50. Abaia Imbler's ability to balance illuminating science journalism with candid personal revelation is impressive, and the mesmerizing glints of lyricism are a treat. This intimate deep dive will leave readers eager to see where Imbler goes next"

Sarah Neilson is a freelance culture writer and interviewer whose work regularly appears in The Seattle Times , Them , and Shondaland , among other outlets. They are an alum of the Tin House craft intensive, and their memoir writing has been published in Catapult and Ligeia . Although there have been as many as 1,000 sightings of “Nessie” most have been disproved and many scholars have concluded that the sea monster is only a psychological figment of peoples’ imaginations. 2. The Kraken The Oceanids were a collective family of 3,000 water goddesses who rule over the Earth’s freshwater. These mythical sea creatures are derived from Greek mythology and are believed to be nymphs whose primary occupation was to monitor the rain clouds, springs, and fountains of the Earth. 12. Mermen My Mother and the Starving Octopus: Comparing their adolescence, their mother's journey from Taiwan to Michigan, their mutual preoccupation with the size of their bodies, and the story of the purple octopus who nurtured her egg clutch for four and a half years. This one was heart-breaking.SN: That kind of goes along with this way that the book centers ideas of freedom and autonomy. How did you think about ideas of freedom and possibility while you were writing these essays? What do those words mean to you in the context of this book? Each essay in their debut collection profiles one such creature: the mother octopus who starves herself while watching over her eggs, the Chinese sturgeon whose migration route has been decimated by pollution and dams, the bizarre Bobbitt worm (named after Lorena) and other uncanny creatures lurking in the deep ocean, far below where the light reaches. Fusing genres to create a new kind of essay, Imbler's debut weaves the wonders of marine biology with stories of their own family and coming of age, implicitly connecting endangered sea life to marginalised human communities and asking how they and we adapt, survive and care for each other. Working at the nexus of nature writing and memoir, Sabrina Imbler is beautifully reinventing both genres" A young queer science writer on some of the ocean's strangest creatures and what they can teach us about human empathy and survival

Pure Life: hydrothermal vents and the deep sea yeti crab, Kiwaidae, and Imbler's time in Seattle, where they moved for an internship. They explore the parallels of space and movement between the crab and them; inhospitable space transformed by a monthly queer POC party, and dancing, the crab farming the bacteria attached to their bristles. "It is exactly suited to the life it leads." In Greek mythology, Nereus is a mythical sea creature who lives at the bottom of the Aegean Sea. He is the father of 50 nereids, and he is said to be a God who never lies and in whom one can trust. Sometimes referred to as “the old man and the sea”, Nereus is a god whose empire lies in the Aegean Sea. 7. Triton As someone who has had the luxury of taking their identity for granted, it was the exposing authenticity of Imbler’s personal journey that gripped me most. The descriptions of their fluctuating sense of gender, their desire to transform their body and the joy of finding their queer family were lyrical and profound.Bakunawa is a serpent-like dragon from Philippine mythology. This mythical sea creature is quite gigantic and is believed to be the cause of eclipses, earthquakes, rains, and wind. Bakuwana is a sea serpent but is also capable of inhabiting both the sky and the underworld. 26. Calypso