זוהר שמות — דף לד ע”ב

God created the great serpent-dragons — the secret of the Leviathan and his mate. Tanninim is written deficiently because the Holy One killed the female and reserved her for the righteous. The great dragon dwells among nine canals, enters the sea, swallows fish and rules over them. Once every seventy years the great dragon stirs and shakes the world. The ten canals correspond to the ten utterances of Creation. In each canal swims one dragon, and they number nine in all. They blow spirits upward not downward.