Wiki: Steller's sea ape is a purported marine mammal, observed by German zoologist Georg Steller on August 10, 1741, around the Shumagin Islands in Alaska. The animal was described as being around 1.5 m (5 feet) long; with a dog-like head; long drooping whiskers; an elongated but robust body; thick fur coat; no limbs; and tail fins much like a shark. He described the creature as being playful and inquisitive like a monkey. After observing it for two hours, he attempted to shoot and collect the creature, but missed, and the creature swam away.

And now a blurb from the skeptical inquirer, link to the entirety of the article directly follows this portion of the article.

Since its appearance in 1741, a mysterious creature has remained controversial—a so-called “sea monkey” that puzzled naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller. He encountered the mystery creature during his service as physician and scientist on Commander Vitus Bering’s Second Kamchatka Expedition to America, 1741–1742.

Some cryptozoologists (active in a field that postdates Steller) refer to the creature as a marine “cryptid” (an animal whose existence—or current existence—is scientifically unverified and thus of interest to cryptozoologists). They use the name Steller’s Sea Ape (“Georg Wilhelm Steller” 2013; Coleman and Huyghe 1999, 64–65; Mackal 1983, 1–32). I determined to approach the case as a skeptical cryptozoologist—more specifically as what I term a paranatural naturalist (one who first considers allegedly paranatural entities as hypothetically natural creatures and seeks to identify them [Nickell 2015]). I determined to conduct a new investigation.

https://skepticalinquirer.org/newsletter/stellers-sea-ape-identifying-an-eighteenth-century-cryptid/

I had lived in Chugiak (eagle river) Alaska over a decade now, which is approximately 12 miles NW of Anchorage so I didn’t spent much time near the ocean. Yet I knew nothing about this cryptid until researching for this blog at the end of July 2023. I did find a recording of an alleged sea ape on youtube but it sounded awfully like a normal seal of which I’ve heard on multiple occasions when visiting friends and family on the Oregon Coast.

Sadly there is no beer made in honor of this cryptid to the best of my knowledge. For that comparison look for my cryptid beer pairing episode,