One of many stylized representations of a mythical sea creature of the Northern Native tribes. Known to the Haida people as Wasgo, and to the Tlingit people, Gonakadet, the Sea-Wolf.
This creature, who is part wolf, part whale, figures in numerous folk tales about a young man who uses the skin of a sea creature for night fishing; he is caught by a pair of whales who punish his deception by transforming him into a creature of the sea.
Older pictographic representations of Wasgo reveal a creature very similar to the horned serpent Avanyu.
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