The Terrible Dogfish is a fictional dogfish-like sea monster, which appears in Carlo Collodi's 1883 book The Adventures of Pinocchio.
Origin[]
The Dogfish is first mentioned in chapter XXIV, when Pinocchio, whilst searching for his creator Mister Geppetto, is informed by a dolphin that he has likely been swallowed by the creature which "...for some days has come to wreak extermination and desolation in our waters". The Dogfish is later mentioned in chapter XXVI by Pinocchio's school friends on the Island of the Busy Bees, who tell him that the creature has been sighted on the coast, so to coax Pinocchio away from school.
The Dogfish makes its first appearance in chapter XXXIV when Pinocchio, recently transformed from a donkey back to his puppet form, has entered the sea to escape from his former handler. The Fairy with Turquoise Hair, in the form of a mountain goat, warns Pinocchio of the Dogfish too late, and the puppet is swallowed whole, along with a tuna whom Pinocchio befriends. Pinocchio discovers his father, who reveals that he has been trapped within the Dogfish for two years, surviving on ship supplies swallowed by the creature. The Dogfish is revealed to suffer from asthma, and to sleep with its head emerged from the water. Pinocchio carries Geppetto on his back and swims out of the Dogfish's mouth. When Pinocchio's strength begins to fail, the tuna helps them reach the shore.
Notes[]
While the original character who appeared in published works before 1923 is in public domain, the version of the character used by Disney, or any other post-1923 works are, most obviously, NOT.