your question:

04/14/2024 Ninny Risotto

Hey Mr. Trevor Dunn! I'm a massive fan of Mr. Bungle and your work. Recently I was wondering about the Disco Volante album cover. Do you know where the photo of the woman holding a dried viper fish up to her eye was sourced from? Who took the photo, who was in the photo? I've been curious for a long time now and I haven't seen many other people discussing this.
Thanks!

my answer:

Oddly, I just came across my thorough research notes from that period. The photo is from a book called The Greatest Depths —probing the Seas to 20,000 feet & below by Gardner Soule (published in 1970). Photo courtesy of Hank Meyer Associates and the Wometco Miami Seaquarium.
I found this book in the San Francisco library and knew immediately that had to be the cover. You can find copies for pretty cheap on abebooks.com (my favorite source of online used book shopping). It can also be viewed on archive.org