Cyclops Flounder, Pleuronectes Cyclops
1803
Meet the 'Cyclops Flounder,' a creature so weird that early scientists gave it a mythological name. Edward Donovan’s 1803 illustration captures the fish’s bizarre anatomy perfectly, showing both its pale underbelly and its speckled, brown top side. Flatfish start life swimming upright but eventually flatten out, migrating both eyes to one side of their head—creating that intense, cyclops-like stare. Published in London, these detailed plates were the 'photographs' of their day, helping naturalists catalog the ocean's strangest residents long before scuba gear was invented.