Narwhal The tusks were staples of the cabinet of curiosities. European knowledge of the tusk's origin developed gradually during the Age of Exploration, as explorers and naturalists began to visit Arctic regions themselves. The narwhal was one of two possible explanations of the giant sea phenomenon written by Jules Verne in his 1870 novel "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea". Verne thought that it would be unlikely that there was such a gigantic narwhal in existence. The size of the narwhal, or "unicorn of the sea", as found by Verne, would have been . For the narwhal to have caused the
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954 film) who had first seen him on-screen in the film identify him most strongly with this role. "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" received positive reviews from critics, was the second highest-grossing film of the year (behind "White Christmas"), earning $8 million in box office attendance in North America and has become a notable classic film of the Disney corporation. Modern-day film critic Steve Biodrowski said that the film is "far superior to the majority of genre efforts from the period (or any period, for that matter), with production design and technical effects that have dated hardly at all." Biodrowski also added