Dandan

A dandan or dendan is a mythical sea creature from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights appearing in the tale "Abdullah the Fisherman and Abdullah the Merman", where a merman describes the dandan as the largest and fiercest fish, capable of swallowing large animals in a single mouthful. The fat of the dandan, described as "fat of oxen, yellow as gold and sweet of savour," is used like an ointment to allow humans to survive underwater.'What is this, O my brother?' asked the fisherman. 'It is the liver-fat of a kind of fish called the dendan,' answered the merman, 'which is the biggest of all fish and the fellest of our foes. Its bulk is greater than that of any beast of the land, and were it to meet a camel or an elephant, it would swallow it at one mouthful.' 'O my brother,' asked Abdallah, 'what eateth this baleful [beast]?' 'It eateth of the beasts of the sea,' replied the merman. 'Hast thou not heard the byword, "Like the fishes of the sea: the strong eateth the weak?"'

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