The Waters Teem: Genesis 1:20-23

God turned to the waters and the sky and spoke creatures into being:

"Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky."

And the seas erupted with life.

Whales breached the surface, their massive bodies arcing through spray. Schools of fish flashed silver in the depths. Octopi unfurled their arms in coral caves. Jellyfish pulsed through currents like living lanterns. The great sea creatures—tanninim, the Hebrew calls them—moved through the deep like legends, creatures of such size and mystery that later generations would weave them into stories of chaos conquered.