Berossus's fragment F1, as preserved by Syncellus from Alexander Polyhistor, describes Oannes as having the whole body of a fish with a human head beneath the fish's head and human feet joined to the tail. True if the fragment's text gives that description.

Berossus F1: Oannes has the whole body of a fish with a human head beneath

what the source states

In F1 (Syncellus, from Alexander Polyhistor) the monster Oannes appears from the Red Sea (Persian Gulf) in the first year: "It had the whole body of a fish", but underneath and attached to the fish's head there was another, human, head, and joined to the tail feet like those of a man, and it had a human voice.

what we infer

Berossus's description — a fish body over a human head and feet — is the fish-cloaked figure, which is what the ledger's Oannes–apkallu correspondence claim asserts. Toward that claim this is the textual half; the iconographic half (that the Assur basin figure is the named apkallu type) is separate.

limitations

• Berossus survives only via Polyhistor and Syncellus; the translators' notes warn of this.
• Partial scan; page numbering differs from the printed book.
• Second reader (claude-sonnet-5, 2026-09-19, run 2026-09-19-verify-deep-memory-122700, verify-v6) found the passage bears in different directions on the claims the record named; this record carries "supports" toward DEEP-C081, the rest went to a record of its own at intake: The quoted passage accurately reflects the description of Oannes in F1 at the correct locator and directly supports C081, which merely restates that description. However, the passage itself says nothing about apkallu sages or any fish-cloaked sage tradition, so it does not establish the correspondence claimed in C053; at most it provides background context for that claim rather than direct support.