From al-Qazwini's Arabic cosmography, this page depicts a shark, a swordfish and a stingray (late 13th century). Zakariya ibn Muhammad ibn Mahmud al-Qazwini (1203-83) was a Persian physician, astronomer, geographer and proto-science fiction writer. His famous Arabic-language cosmography titled 'Aja'ib al-makhluqat wa-ghe' (literally 'Marvels of Creatures and Strange Things Existing') is a frequently illustrated treatise. It was immensely popular in its time and is preserved today, also translated in Persian and Turkish.