ORIGINAL STORY
Amphibian Man is a well-known novel by Alexander Belyaev, a Russian science fiction writer, although mankind has been retelling the story of the amphibian man since ancient times. We may assume that Belyaev's novel was somewhat inspired by the work of Jean de La Hire (pseudonym of the Comte Adolphed’Espie), a prolific French author of numerous popular adventure, science fiction, and romance novels, whose novel 'The Man Who Could Live In Water' was published in the French newspaper Le Matin in 1909. A Russian version of this novel written by an anonymous author was published in the St. Petersburg newspaper 'Zemshchina' in the same year, and may well have been read by Belyaev, who wrote his cult novel, 'Amphibian Man', in 1928.

The book tells the story of a young man named Ichtyander (literally ‘Fish Man’ in Greek) who as a child received a life-saving transplant a set of shark gills. The operation was performed by his father, Doctor Salvator, a scientist and maverick surgeon. The experiment was a success, but it limited the young man’s ability to interact with the world outside his ocean environment. Similar to other works by Belyaev, the book investigates the possibilities of physical survival under extreme conditions, as well as the moral integrity of scientific experiments.

AMPHIBIAN MAN  FILM ADAPTATION HISTORY
The first film adaptation of Amphibian Man (1962) recorded 65 million ticket sales, quickly becoming one of the most admired movies in the USSR. Filmed on the south coast of the Crimea and featuring a cast of beautiful young actors, the film features some popular song and dance numbers. The first song and the musical theme of the movie, The Sea Devil, became a hit that was played well into the 1990s.

Alexander Atanesian directed a 4 series modern film adaptation of Amphibian Man entitled ‘Sea Devil’ in 2004. It was widely broadcasted on Russian TV channels.