Those who live by fishing often honor a goddess who controls the sea life, such as the important Eskimo goddess Sedna (see Circumpolar), Celtic Nehalennia, or Finno-Ugric Avfruvva.
In South America, Mama Cocha was the ‘‘mother of whales because she brought the massive mammals close to hunters.
Polynesian Lorop (see Pacific Islands) lived under the earth, sending up food for her children in the form of fish.
In other cases, the goddess was seen not as controlling the sea creatures but as one of them, as with Celtic Lı Ban, transformed into a salmon, and Eastern Mediterranean Atargatis, who swam in the pool of her temple as a trout.
In India, the group of spirits called the D akinıs took on fish shapes to attend upon the goddess of death, Kalı.
In Africa, the heroine Chichinguane joined the fish people because her human kin were unkind to her.
Among insects, the industrious bee and the crafty spider are common goddess images.
Bees, whose hives are centered on a queen and whose female workers produce honey, appear as companions of goddesses associated with social life.
Lithuanian Aus t ˙eja was celebrated in an annual holiday dedicated to bees.
Artemis of Ephesus, goddess of the warrior Amazons (see Greece), was depicted surrounded by bees; her priestesses were called Melissae, also a name used of bee Nymphs.
Irish Gobnait (see Celtic) lived among bees that warned her of approaching danger.
Spiders, with their ability to weave intricately architectural webs from their own bodies, appear as creatrix figures in several cultures.
Hopi Kokyangwuti created human beings; Cherokee Kanene Ski Amai Yehi brought the sun to earth.
Greek Athena was connected to spiders because she made the first one from an insultingly competitive human girl, Arachne.
Finally, both butterflies (see Psyche, see Greece; Ix Chel, see Mesoamerica) and scorpions (South American Ituana, Egyptian Selkhet) appear as goddess images.
You can learn more about Goddess Symbolism here.