The Leafy Sea Dragon

Atlas of Curiosities: Part 8

While heading in to shore off the coast of southern Australia, we were approached by two men in a small rowboat who claimed to have an animal unlike any we had ever seen.  Holding up a large glass jar, we were confronted with a mass of foliage not unlike that of a carrot, or a clump of seaweed.  Remarkably, the plant began to move about, seemingly in possession of not only the gift of locomotion, but of sentience.

Asking for a closer look, we were told that the creature could only be viewed for a price.  Growing irate, a young member of our crew leapt from the deck of our vessel into the sea and hoisted himself into the rowboat.  In the ensuing scuffle, he won control of the jar, only to see it smashed in his hands by an oar swung the more dexterous of his adversaries.  Diving into the water after the beast, the young man found himself in a sea full of weeds, and for the life of him he could not discern the direction in which the true specimen had fled.

“Lost!” he moaned as he climbed back aboard, “lost forever.”

Once ashore, we met a town doctor, who was familiar with the species.  After telling him of our misadventures, he remarked that the young man’s actions had likely saved the specimen’s life, as he could not fathom such a creature surviving in a glass jar for more than a few hours. We passed this information on to the young man, who, upon seeing the rendering our artist produced of the beast, insisted upon the jar being drawn as well.  Without it, he said, the depiction was “wholly unbelievable.”