Bishop Fish
Region of origin: The Baltic Sea
In the 16th century up through today there have been stories of fishermen in the Baltic region catching these strange fish. Not a merman in the traditional half-human/half-fish sense, but a fish with a vaguely man-shaped body, specifically with a conical skull and cape-like tail resembling the garments of a bishop, and possessing sufficient intelligence to communicate. The most detailed story is a live bishop fish being given to a king of Poland. The King kept it and presented it to a group of Catholic bishops, to whom it gestured a desire to be set free, which the group persuaded the King to do; supposedly giving the sign of the cross as it was released.
Originally posted on Tumblr on January 1, 2016
The Compendium of Arcane Beasts and Critters 