In the Disney film Pinocchio, the sea monster (named Monstro, the Portuguese word for monster) is portrayed as a sperm/blue whale hybrid, and first mentioned when Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket receive a message from the Blue Fairy that Geppetto, while venturing towards Pleasure Island to find Pinocchio, has been swallowed by the creature. The two search for the monster, but are frustrated by the fear the various nekton display at the mention of his name. Upon their encounter with him, Monstro swallows Pinocchio, who discovers Geppetto in Monstro's throat, prompting both to escape.

Moby-Dick; or, The Whale (1851) is the sixth book by American writer Herman Melville. The work is an epic sea-story of Captain Ahab's voyage in pursuit of Moby Dick, a great white whale. It initially received mixed reviews and at Melville's death in 1891 was remembered, if at all, as a children's sea adventure, but now is considered one of the Great American Novels and a leading work of American Romanticism.