The charming woodcut portrait of a juvenile Mediterranean seal, albeit with some embellished features, is from Pierre Belon's (1517-1564) 1555 La nature & diversite des poissons. His earlier work, published in Latin in 1553 as De aquatilibus, was later translated into French as La nature & diversite des poissons and is recognized as the beginnings of modern ichthyology. Belon described over one hundred marine animals and included observations comparing marine mammals with land animals. The images to the left show another of Belon's woodcut prints, a dolphin, and examples of marine mammals from three more tomes featured in Opulent Oceans.

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