Tradition / Region: Brazilian Mythology
Alternate Names: Aegomastus, Egomastus; Houperou, Huperus
Category: Fish
The Myth
Sailors off the coast of South America once spoke of a strange fish glimpsed in deep waters, a creature with a beard hanging from its chin like the udder of a goat. Its body bore sharp, pointed fins, and along its back rose a long, threatening spine. Though unnamed at first, this creature would later be called the Mastopogon—the breast-beard.
In the same waters lived a far more feared being, known as the Houperou. It was said to be immense and ravenous, devouring all other sea creatures without mercy, save for one small carp-like fish. This lesser fish followed closely in the Houperou’s shadow, unharmed, protected by the terror its companion inspired. None dared approach the pair.
The Houperou’s skin was rough as sandpaper, like that of a dogfish. Its teeth were sharp, its strength overwhelming. Anyone it seized in the water was attacked, drowned, and torn apart. The coastal peoples, knowing its danger, shot it with arrows whenever it was seen. Some said its true name was uperu, the local word for shark, distorted by foreign tongues.
Over time, the two creatures—Mastopogon and Houperou—became entangled in description and image. Scholars depicted the Houperou as a giant pike, while the Mastopogon gained a name at last. As the years passed, their forms blurred further, until they were scarcely separable.
In later tellings, the Mastopogon was said to be a kind of Houperou, shaped like a salmon with immense thorny fins, its dorsal spine stretching nearly to the tail. The Houperou itself grew stranger still, now bearing the mammary beard beneath its jaw, ear-like knobs upon its head, rough scales, a long spined back, and a straight, powerful tail.
Thus the Mastopogon and the Houperou became one tangled legend: a single terror of the sea, half-bearded monster and half-devouring shark, born from sailors’ fear and the shifting shapes of deep water.
Gallery
Sources
A Book of Creatures contributors. (n.d.). Mastopogon. In A Book of Creatures, from https://abookofcreatures.com/2016/02/26/mastopogon/
Interpretive Lenses
Religious Readings
- Christian Ascetic Deep Dive
Philosophical Readings
- Nietzschean Deep Dive
Psychological Readings
- Jungian Deep Dive
Esoteric Deep Dive
- Hermetic Deep Dive
Political / Social Readings
- Marxist Deep Dive
Other
- How to Invite The Mastopogon