Richardson, Richardson and Bentley note that the Book of Mormon indicates that some people of that period believed in monsters or dragons of some kind which supposedly inhabited the subterranean waters (2 Nephi 8:9; 9:10, 19, 26; 23:22 Mosiah 20:11; Alma 43:44) This is also verified by modern research from Mesoamerica. It is interesting that the Bible contains similar imagery. Indeed the Bible speaks of such mythological creatures as the Behemoth which could drink up whole rivers (Job 40:15-24), the cockatrice (Isaiah 11:8), dragons (Isaiah 11:8; 13:21-22; 27:1; 43:20; Ezekiel 29:5; Psalms 143:7), the fire breathing leviathan (Job 41), the satyr (Isaiah 13:21-22), sea dragons and sea serpents (Psalms 74:13; Isaiah 27:1), and event he unicorn (Numbers 23:2; 24:8; Deuteronomy 33:17; Job 39:9-10; Psalms 22:21; 29:6; 92:10; and Isaiah 34:7). [Allen H. Richardson, David E. Richardson and Anthony E. Bentley, 1000 Evidences for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Part Two-A Voice from the Dust: 500 Evidences in Support of the Book of Mormon, p. 211]
“Like Dragons Did They Fight”
According to John Sorenson, another bit of Mesoamerican atmosphere appears in a figure of speech the writer used in Mosiah 20:11. "Like dragons did they fight," he wrote (see also Alma 43:44). What kind of "dragons" did he have in mind? The reference was probably to the crocodile or caiman. There are a number of reasons to think so. One colonial period observer described these saurians thus: "Very ferocious, and greatly feared. . . . Some of the caymans are from twenty to thirty feet and upwards in length . . . and covered with scales through which a musket ball cannot pierce. Their tails are very powerful and dangerous; and their mouths are large, with three rows of formidable teeth." But this "dragon" was much more than a dangerous bit of the natural world. In Mesoamerican mythology a giant creature of crocodilian form was thought to float on the supposed subterranean sea. His back was the surface of the earth, and his connection with earth and waters tied him symbolically with productivity and fertility. This "earth monster" is repeatedly shown at the base of relief carvings at Izapa (on the Chiapas/Guatemala border), in early Maya sculpture, and even in Olmec art; hence the idea is very old and fundamental. . . . The Book of Mormon and the Near Eastern cultural background from which it developed represents a crocodile-related monster in similar ways. Second Nephi 9:9-10, 19, and 26 picture "the devil" as a dragon or monster dwelling beneath the earth's surface. The Israelites shared with their Near Eastern neighbors the idea and image of this being as a symbol of chaos and evil. The Old Testament name of the creature is sometimes given as "leviathan." Its scaly back formed the ridges and hills of earth's surface. The "high places" where early Palestinian inhabitants worshipped were named from a root that meant "back of an animal." The sea creature--chaos--was thought to have been conquered by Jehovah in an ancient epic struggle (Isaiah 27:1; 51:9; Psalms 74:13-14). This is surely the dragon referred to in 2 Nephi 9:9 and the "old serpent" in Mosiah 16:3. The entire topic of dragons, monsters, and serpents is obviously too complex to do more than touch on here. We can at least note two things about Zeniff's dragon imagery: (1) it had powerful meaning to his listeners--beyond being a mere literary phrase, and (2) the complex of ideas is represented not only in the book of Mormon but in Palestine and Mesoamerica as well. [John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon, F.A.R.M.S., pp. 187-188] [See also 2 Nephi 9:9-10, 19, 26]