Friday 11 February 2022

DENFIL

This word means a dolphin in Maltese, but Malta features a particular folkloric creature known by the name of Denfil.  He has scales and gills, so he is clearly no kind of dolphin.   He has a large head. He is regarded as the King of the Fish, ruling a submarine realm.  If this creature is based on a real animal found in the Mediterranean, it is unknown to science.

Source: S.D. Mifsud The Maltese Bestiary Blata I-Bajda, 2014.






 

  

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