Loch Ness Monster Mystery Solved? Scientist Claims It's Probably Just a Giant Eel
The fabled Loch Ness monster is, at best, likely nothing more than a monster eel, according to a new study of the fabled creature whose alleged existence has captivated generations.
Stories of a monster in the waters of Loch Ness in northern Scotland, often said to be a plesiosaur from the days when giant beasts roamed the Earth, have been circulating for centuries.
A new study by Professor Neil Gemmell, a geneticist from New Zealand’s University of Otago, revealed what may actually lurk beneath the surface of Loch Ness, the BBC reported.
Gemmell and his team of scientists didn’t use divers to search for a mythical creature; instead, they gathered over 200 trace DNA available in water samples.
?️ Is this the end of the Loch Ness monster mystery?
Scientists have analysed more than 500 million DNA sequences. Here’s what they found ? https://t.co/b0QaXorwWf
— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 5, 2019
“Is there a plesiosaur in Loch Ness? No. There is absolutely no evidence of any reptilian sequences,” Gemmell concluded, according to The Guardian. “So I think we can be fairly sure that there is probably not a giant scaly reptile swimming around in Loch Ness.”
“We can’t find any evidence of a creature that’s remotely related to that in our environmental-DNA sequence data. So, sorry, I don’t think the plesiosaur idea holds up based on the data that we have obtained,” he added.
Theories that the creature is some aberration of a shark or catfish were also ruled out.
“So there’s no shark DNA in Loch Ness based on our sampling. There is also no catfish DNA in Loch Ness based on our sampling. We can’t find any evidence of sturgeon either,” he said.
But they did find the presence of eels.
“There is a very significant amount of eel DNA. Eels are very plentiful in Loch Ness, with eel DNA found at pretty much every location sampled — there are a lot of them. So — are they giant eels?”
“Well, our data doesn’t reveal their size, but the sheer quantity of the material says that we can’t discount the possibility that there may be giant eels in Loch Ness,” Gemmel said. “Therefore we can’t discount the possibility that what people see and believe is the Loch Ness Monster might be a giant eel.”
“The notion is that these eels would normally migrate to reproduce, but they, for whatever reason, don’t. And they continue to grow to a very large size, forgoing reproduction for growth.”
Gemmell said the eel theory is now open to debate.
“People love a mystery, we’ve used science to add another chapter to Loch Ness’ mystique,” he said.
Monster-hunter Steve Feltham said the research explained the obvious.
“A 12-year-old boy could tell you there are eels in Loch Ness. I caught eels in the loch when I was a 12-year-old boy,” he said, adding that there still may be more to the lake than science has revealed.
Gemmell admitted the research may not be the end of all questions.
“We may have missed things. But we found all the species we know are residents in Loch Ness in respect to fish,” he said.
“Like every other monster hunt there has been here at Loch Ness, we have found no definitive evidence of a monster. More and more studies providing more and more negative evidence cast more and more doubt on the possibility, but we can’t prove a negative.”
If it’s not “Nessie is real” then I don’t want to hear it https://t.co/368YKdEkq5
— I deride your truth-handling abilities (@24shaz) September 5, 2019
So is the Nessie legend dead? Gemmell said not quite.
“There’s still some level of uncertainty there, so there is still the opportunity for people to believe in monsters. Is it front page news? I don’t know. But we’ve captured some imaginations.”
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
