I read and responded to the comment at about 12:30. Just hours later, at around 4:00, one of my young students was very excited to show me her new pencil case. (She said it was new, anyway; it certainly doesn't look very new!)
"What's that?" I said. "A cat?" And then, noticing the horn, "Or no, it's a unicorn, isn't it?"
"Yes, a unicorn!" -- then, after a brief pause, "No, a fish!"
"A fish? How is it a fish?"
"A shark! This is a shark!" -- and she indicated the horn, presumably meaning that it could be the dorsal fin of a shark.
With ben's elephant, the trunk is similarly reinterpreted as a dorsal fin. And although the makara is most often depicted as an elephant-headed fish, it is also sometimes shown with a horn or horns. Keep in mind that Makara is also the Sanskrit name for the constellation Capricornus, whose Latin name is literally "goat-horn."
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"Makara is also the Sanskrit name for the constellation"
All I can say is a trite euphemism cliche -- "holy makara!" Fishy again!
Also, I have just been apprised by wickedpedia that 'Makara is a Sanskrit word which means "sea-animal, crocodile"' My now-adult son Tim was nicknamed by me as an infant as "Crocodile" owing to his surly disposition and inspired by the Steve Irwin* tv show then all the rage. The nickname and the surliness have each remained over the years. So imagine my surprise to learn recently that the Egyptian word for crocodile was "timsah".
* Irwin not to be confused with Irving. Although my wife is uncertain whether her grandfather's middle name was Irwin or Irving.
"Syncs are a real time sink, I zink" as the German Coast Guard might express it.
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