http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1c-zCV6QuE&NR=1

What is it?

Is it a cryptid, and if not what is it?

Its not a cryptid, I can not remember the name of it now of the top of my head, but its a deep sea fish I think.

I'll google and see if I can come up with the name


Edit: It is called an oarfish
http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=oarfis...;um=1&hl=en

Yep, an Oarfish, it's my humble opinion that our ever-beloved Nessie is an unusually large Oarfish or eel of some sort.

[size="7"][/size]oarfish

There have been some seemingly reliable accounts of Nessie being seen out of the water. This makes her being a fish or eel highly unlikely. Also, the many accounts of nessie head high out of the water also suggests this cannot be a fish.

Eels can cross up to a quarter mile on land between water sources and they are a species of fish,(more than one if truth be told).
Google it DC.

*edited to remove sarcasm.*

Back OT.
Looks like an oarfish from here too.

it looks to me to be like some kind of eel or maybe a deep sea snake. I don't think that I would classify it as a specimen of cryptology.

Oarfish alright. It can get extremely big too...
I've seen one pic that shows several mariners holding this fish...I'll post it if I found it...

Here we go! I know it's been posted before...
But yeah, just to fulfill my promise.
Click to view attachment

how many accounts would that be ?
how many of them were credible
how many have since been exposed as fakes
next you'll be telling us that Nessie is some kind of para dimensional dragon

Reported sightings of Nessie on land...

http://cryptozoo.monstrous.com/nessie_sigh...m#_Toc525010741
http://www.nessie.co.uk/sight2.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Ness_Mon...#Land_sightings (Section 3.2)
http://www.cryptozoology.com/cryptids/nessie.php (land sighting by a vetinary student - quite a reliable witness?)

Yes, and I even had a "walking catfish" as a pet that frenquently left its tank. But the descriptions of Nessie do not fit the descripton of any fish. It certainly did not look like an eel, but a creature with a barrel shaped body, and long neck. Or maybe an eel that swallowed a whole cow or elephant.

Actually many people believe the creatures generally known as "Lake Monsters' and reported all around the world, may also be the source of some of the dragon legends, which perhaps by no coincidence of occur in the same regions. An yes, "Nessie" could be considered a "dragon". She gets a whole chapter.

Oarfish, there the largest bony fish in the sea, they can become huge.

Have you been to Loch Ness DC?
I have. I was 18 and visiting relations in the area for a few weeks. I spent many a happy hour walking along the banks of the Loch with my dog.
For almost 2weeks the only thing I spotted was the odd tourist and some very ODD locals,(I did say I had relations nearby )
Then I did see 'something'.
From about 1/2 kilometres away it looked like a HUGE eel was swimming close to the edge of the bank,(about 200 mtrs out from shore) causing a large v-shaped wake behind.
Being the nosey, irritating sod that I am, I carried on walking towards this 'thing' , crossing the roadway and walking along the stretch of bank close to it.
At that moment the 'thing' rolled and a 'head' reared out of the murky water........it was a partially submerged tree.
The current had created the 'wake' and until it rolled it gave every impression of a living creature.
If I had been the sort of person to go by first impressions I would still have a cool tale to tell, but I can see why people can report 'heads' rising up from the water - I thought that too till I got closer.

Mind you recent sonar HAS found large eels in the loch so I'm sticking with that theory thanks.
Not as attractive as dragons/plesiosaurs but pretty cryptid nonetheless.

Sorry, "seemingly reliable" accounts mean little or nothing to me, given all the hoaxed material and attenion-whoring that Youtube and other media sites promote, just too many people wanna get something on the net, no matter what it does to integrity.

Attention whoring and trying to get on youtube/ the internet in the 1930's?

From the first link I posted...

Name: Alec Muir

Date: 1930's

Location: Inverfarigaig

Description: Large beast crossed road in front of car



Name: School children

Date: 1930's

Location: Urquhart Bay

Description: Horrifying animal seen moving from swamp area in

Urquhart Bay into loch.



Name: Mrs. Eleanor Price-Hughes

Date: 1933

Location: Not known

Description: Large creature emerged from bushes and vanished into

loch.



Name: Col. L. MCP Fordyce

Date: April 1933

Location: Near Foyers

Description: Like cross between a large horse and camel with hump on

its back. Small head on long neck. Grey in colour.



Name: George Spicer

Date: July 1933

Location: Between Dores and Foyers

Description: Large creature crossed road 140m in front of car. Thick

body with long neck. Grey 7.5m long. Moved in a jerky movement then

slided into loch.



Name: Mrs. M.F. MacLennan

Date: August 1933

Location: Dores

Description: Dark grey mass on beach 6 to 7.5m long. Several humps

with short, thick legs.



Name: Mrs. Ried

Date: December 1933

Location: Inverfarigaig

Description: Seen resting on shore. hairy body with thick mane on neck.

Size of hippopotamus. Large, round head with short thick legs.

Not saying these witnesses were reliable, but they certainly weren't trying to get famous on youtube!!!!

^Yeah, Youtube hasn't been there back then. But The Sunday Morning and News OF The World has...

So, if ANY of the above people that you've listed(with whom you no doubt place your utmost trust and confidence in) were to ask for your social security number and the whereabouts of your children, then you wouldn't hesitate to give it to them....given the fact that your willing to trust they're word.

The point I was trying to get at was that of "reliability", the use of Youtube and similar pseudo-media outlets was to illustrate how we've gone from spreading tavern-tales and campfire-stories by word of mouth to staging hoaxes to be mini-movies for all to watch and chuckle at.......trust, my friend, who do ya trust?

Look, I've said it NUMEROUS times on these forums, I would LOVE for a creature like this to be alive...really I would....I think it would be fascinating, but it's gonna take a little more than a few locals and some overzealous tourists to make me belive that there is a "monster"...that EVERYONE AND THEY'RE MOTHER SEEMS TO BE LOOKING FOR, BUT CANNOT GET 1 STINKIN PIECE OF SOLID EVIDENCE ON....in that body of water. When that credible evidence surfaces, I'll believe it and embrace it, until then, with all due respect, what Ma and Pa Barker think they saw back in the 1930's means nothing to me.

^I'm with you Onyx, I too was a believer, and was happy that way. But then too many people pulled too many hoaxes and publicity stunts, I lost the appetite for these cryptids. Yet I still love them and would not separate them from my daily life.

I keep searching, myself.

It's not as if I'm sitting-back and trying to insult all the people that DO believe, that's not my gig at all, but I'm just being pragmatic. Sooner or later, if this "monster" does exist, then some solid credible evidence will be found and exposed, then I'll have no problem believing, until then, all the grainy, shaky, laughable, half-baked, from half-a-mile away, back-half or front-half only, video's and pics just aren't gonna sell-me....respectfully-speaking, you understand.

^Well said.

Are we still talking about oarfish?

Yeah, I think so......at least until DC gets back.

ok, but since we dont know any of them we cant say how reliable or unreliabe these witnesses are. although if a school bus of childer and a driver (and possibly a teacher) saw something, i think id take it into consideration despite not knowing them at all.
however, i do agree with ~Onyx~ to an extent. there have been soooo many fakes out there, its hard to tell which is authentic anymore

^Yes, Agent Mulder. Some of us were truly blinded by the temptation of fame and fortune indeed.

I see your point, I was just being pedantic I suppose (Friday afternoon at work does that to you). I'm exactly the same as you, I'd love for there to be reliable witnesses and rock solid evidence, but there won't be! Until we catch a creature and it's there for all to see, we just have to look at the alleged evidence and critique it.

Back to the OT - how many more people do you think are going to post with "It's an oarfish" even though it has been established as an oarfish and how many sandwiches could you make out of an oarfish? They're pretty impressive!

I believe some of them are very reliable, like the retired Colonel. A person like that would not subject himself to the publicity and ridcule if he did not see the creature.

It should be noted that the reason for the rash of sightings in 1933 was due to a new road that circled the Loch for the first time that obviously confused the creature. But this is good evidence that the creature frenquently left the water, then, and probably now. This could easily explain why the attempt to locate Nessie with sonor have failed. She can leave the water anytime she is being sounded by sonor.

reliable accounts? the loch ness monster is a hoax

You really don't know enough about this to talk intelligently on the subject. The original 1933 hoaxed photo only came about becasue so many people were seeing the real thing, and not to make Loch Ness a tourist attraction, but because a road was made around the loch. The hoax was made by a person who believed in the creature as well, but was unable to capture it.

Logically there can't only be one; there would have to be a breeding colony, which would leave an abundance of evidence.
Reptiles come out of the water to breed. Surely someone would notice rutting dinosaurs.
Loch Ness is also only about 10,000 years old apparently, and used to be under a glacier.
If there's a creature, it's unlikely to be an ancient reptile. Maybe a very big newt.
There have always been reports of a strange creature in the waters though, going back to the ancient Picts who lived in Scotland before the Scottish got there (from Ireland). They carved Nessie into symbol stones.
I've come to believe it's just a story however, but I hope it's not.

All accounts aren't reliable. I myself think it's a large mammal.

As for the vid, Oarfish.

We think this may be just another hobo in a wet suit.

I just think that there is no way to legitimately prove that the Loch Ness monster is real....

Yeah, I always have that "colony of Nessie" theory. You see, although the loch is in Scotland, it doesn't mean that anything form there has to be "there can be only one..."
No, this Nessie ain't a McLeod, so I suppose for such creature to maintain long preservation and existence, it needs a colony. And think about a colony of titans. What'll happen if the cross the road, like the mother in front followed by the children?
" Oo lookie there mate, there goes a family of Nessie crossing the road!"

It is possible that Nessie and his brethren actually live in the earth, maybe in a cave below lochness like a underwater cave that is sitting just right that there is no water there, so possibly there amphibious and not aquatic.

^That's a possiblity, somebody should send more ROV to explore the loch, just like they send more paramedics to the zombies...hahaha!

Possibility yes but why has no one thought about it?

Take it from a local, Scotland is RIFE with tall tales and folklore. People you deem highly respectable and trustworthy will all too often have some sort of "strange story" to tell you, most of which are false. Hell, we've been fooling the English into thinking the Haggis is a real honest-to-god animal for years. AND fooling everyone else (including Scots) that haggis consists of sheep entrails, eyes, lips, shoes anbd other associated offal, when in fact it is primarily oatmeal and maybe a bit of mince (possibly even a bit of liver in there too!!! oooh!), traditionally in a sheep's stomach, but very much packed in plastic. Sad truth I'm afraid.

Yep, everyone's up for pulling everyone's leg up here; playing silly-buggers and being the haverer. Haven't you heard the old phrase "don't trust a Scotsman"? OK maybe that's a bit harsh, but we enjoy a good story.







The only strange phenomenon up there on Loch Ness is my uncle and his boat. But that's a way more paranormal and weirdy entity than any loch monster!



Regarding colonies, the only way that an animal would be able to survive in such small numbers (because let's face it, a large reptile, mammal or whatever, living in a cold climate with sporadic amounts of sun and living in water that very rarely lifts its average temperature all that much above freezing point [say, about 2-3C average] will need a LOT of food, and the loch, having such a large volume-surface area ration, hence not much primary producer [the vital first step of all food webs] activity due to it being restricted to a fairly small surface water volume compared to the rest of the loch, ergo not much in the way of nutrition) could only rationally be able to self produce WITHOUT the danger of inbreeding (subsequently bringing out all the undesireable reccessive genotypes and hence genetic diseases and disorders) would be Parthenogenesis. To my mind the most complex animal that uses parthenogenesis as a viable reproductive process is the aphid. It requires a lot of energy invested in it by the single parent, and surely would put too much strain on a large animal with a complex circulatory system, thus requiring more food. There just wouldn't be enough food in hte loch unless the animals foraged outwith the boundaries of the loch. In which case it certainly CANNOT be a plesiosaur! Could you honestly imagine such a clumsy (on land) animal try and hunt down a large deer!? Besides, to my mind, plesiosaurs have only the dentition required to catch fish. Also, they died out about 65 million years ago.






So anyhoo, back to the REAL topic, which is that of the oarfish. Wonder how it got its name? Doesn't look much like an oar to me...

Oarfish have long front fins that look like oars.

Nessie does not necesarily hae to be a waterbound creature, but a creature that may occasionally see refuge in the deep water. Long necked "monsters" have been reported throughout the British Isles from the earliest recorded times. These creatures are commonly portrayed in ancient art and are called "ketos". They are often depicted with powerful clawed forearms, again suggesting a creature equally comfortable on land as in the water. Although reptiles are cold blooded, many scientists believe some archosaurs, which also include dinosaurs were warm blooded.