An enormous aquatic animal mentioned by Job. Some suppose it to have been the whale, but that distinguished ichthyologer, Dr. Jordan, of Stanford University, maintains with considerable heat that it was a species of gigantic Tadpole ('Thaddeus Polandensis') or Polliwig -- 'Maria pseudo-hirsuta'. For an exhaustive description and history of the Tadpole consult the famous monograph of Jane Potter, 'Thaddeus of Warsaw'.
—Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary