Mystery ‘monster’ baffles marine life experts

[Still Waters]

A MYSTERY sea creature spotted in the Mersey has experts baffled.

The “monster” was snapped off Seacombe Ferry at 9am yesterday by photographer Mark Harrison.

Paul Renolds, from the Blue Planet Aquarium, who studied the photos, said: “It is virtually impossible to actually identify, but this is the time of year when large numbers of basking sharks, the second largest shark species in the world after whale sharks, head towards waters off the Isle of Man.

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[Queen in the North]

Sometimes, a whale is just a whale, people.

[Verneph]

From the (what looks like) rounded out snout, I'd say it's some species of whale. But a basking shark has the same roundness to it so that's a possibility. It doesn't look like anything sensational though.

[King Fluffs]

Interesting find, i think its a whale however.

[Juuri]

Lochness escaped!

Just a whale I guess.

[Star of the Sea]

Lochness escaped!

Just a whale I guess.

Ha ha you beat me to it! Maybe a Mrs Nessie for Mr Nessie in Lochness? What a great couple they would make

Edited May 26, 2011 by Star of the Sea

[SolarPlexus]

wierd mouth?

[Juuri]

Ha ha you beat me to it! Maybe a Mrs Nessie for Mr Nessie in Lochness? What a great couple they would make

Ha ha yeah that would be nice for him

[UFO_Monster]

It's times like these that you'd expect somebody to take a dive when they see something unusual in the water. I'm surprised nobody's tried that before. Of course, it could be dangerous to do such a thing.

[Drakester]

Looks like a cetacean to me.

Maybe a false killer whale or a pilot whale, or some other kind of large-ish dolphin. (Although it's interesting that there aren´t dorsal fins in the pics), but the shape of the snouth just screams small toothed whale to me.

False killer whale:

Pygmy killer whale:

Pilot whale:

[Clobhair-cean]

The nose shape is exactly like that of a basking shark

[tipotep]

Yeah i dont see the fuss , it looks like a whale to me ?

TiP.

[Soul Kitchen]

That mouth does not look anything like a shark or the aforeposted whales. Especially the shark. I don't see the resemblance with a shark at all.

I'm going with either a seal or a relict plesiosaur.

Edited May 27, 2011 by Soul Kitchen

[Spectre1979]

Sigh... the photos are always so dodgy!

[Drakester]

That mouth does not look anything like a shark or the aforeposted whales. Especially the shark. I don't see the resemblance with a shark at all.

I'm going with either a seal or a relict plesiosaur.

It does not look anything like a plesiosaur. Like, at all. But I think you have a point, it DOES look a lot like a seal. I did some research and there are Grey Seals (Halichoerus grypus) in the Isle of Mann.

Here's pics of Grey Seals with their mouth open:

And here's the "monster". There is definitely a resemblance.

Here's a Grey Seal in the sea surface:

So, I don´t think its a whale after all. The Grey Seal fits perfectly. And I dont know what kind of scientist would mistake the thing in the photo for a Basking Shark.

[SolarPlexus]

no whale/shark imo. resembles a horse snout

Edited May 27, 2011 by SolarPlexus

[Soul Kitchen]

It does not look anything like a plesiosaur. Like, at all.

What are you talking about? It's just a mouth, and at that it looks like it could belong to a plesiosaur.

So, I don´t think its a whale after all. The Grey Seal fits perfectly. And I dont know what kind of scientist would mistake the thing in the photo for a Basking Shark.

Yeah, I'm not sure what that was about lol...

[Drakester]

What are you talking about? It's just a mouth, and at that it looks like it could belong to a plesiosaur.

No it doesn´t. Plesiosaurs (those we know about, anyways) had longish jaws that tapered towards the front and the skulls were rather flat, like a crocodile's. The animal in the pic has a rounded snout. Also, if u look closely there's what seems to be a lower canine, which again fits the Grey Seal perfectly but doesn´t fit either whales or plesiosaurs. Plesiosaurs had very long teeth that were exposed even when the animal had its mouth closed. They were kinda like gharial teeth, designed to capture slippery fish:

Notice how all the teeth are about the same length (no canines) and the jaws are very deep; the thing in the foto has a rather smallish mouth and what look (to me at least) as canines. So it fits the seal much better than any kind of reptile.

A seal native to the place where the photo was taken will always make more sense than a relict plesiosaur anyways, or that's my opinion.

Edited May 27, 2011 by Drakester

[Soul Kitchen]

I still think that a plesiosaur is far more likely than a mere seal.

Not to mention way cooler.

[Drakester]

I still think that a plesiosaur is far more likely than a mere seal.

Not to mention way cooler.

Not arguing about the cooler part lol

[Cynical Sounds]

personally I still think its a porpoise or one of the larger delphinidae members but I guess a grey seal fits as well

[NatureBoff]

Great photos for once! The first thought I had was "giant catfish". You can see the two feelers on top and the mouth is that of a bottom feeder. Is that large teeth curved upward from the bottom jaw though? Maybe a new species of giant catfish??

Edited May 27, 2011 by Le Lapedalleur

[Cynical Sounds]

Great photos for once! The first thought I had was "giant catfish". You can see the two feelers on top and the mouth is that of a bottom feeder. Is that large teeth curved upward from the bottom jaw though? Maybe a new species of giant catfish??

I doubt it Ariids are the only types of catfish that can survive out of fresh water (being the only sea going family of catfish) and are noticeably absent from europe.

[The Metal]

its a seal, end of.

the only mystery here is how the liverpool echo gets away with calling "Paul Renolds, from the Blue Planet Aquarium" an Expert on British marine life

[Taut]

Looks like a seal to me. And, as usual, no photo data.