by Murray Byfield
Is this how legends of Sea Monsters begin?
photo credit: Robert Tyndall via Ethan Tippa/Facebook
In February 2016 a picture was uploaded to Facebook with the caption “This is at Swansea boat ramp. What the f#*k is it ?”
The bizarre looking marine creature looked like a cross between a dolphin, crocodile and eel. The image gained over 28000 shares in just over a week.
A local fisherman by the name of Robert Tyndall snapped the photograph of the alleged sea monster. Where it was laying dead at the Swansea Boat Ramp in NSW Australia. The image was then uploaded to Facebook by Ethan Tippa.
The photo gained a lot of attention from Cryptozooligists some of whom claimed it was an unknown sea monster. However Marine biologist Julian Pepperell identified the creature as a Pike eel (Muraenesox bagio). Which are usually found in the Indio-Pacific ocean. The species is known to frequent the coastal waters of NSW.
A pike eel normally reaches lengths of 1.08 metres (5.9 feet). Some comments suggested the image was “photoshopped” while others point to that it is difficult to make out the scale of the creature from the photo provided.
Whatever the case most people experienced fisherman and boating enthusiasts agree that the creature was simply a Pike eel.
In times gone by sea monsters were reported by sailors the world over nautical maps even had “Beware! here be monsters!” written on them.
Any experienced user of social media knows that you cant trust things posted to them. Has Facebook become the new source of legend and folklore similar to the sailors maps of old?
The famous “Surgeons Photograph” of the Loch Ness Monster was admitted as a fake a long time ago. Yet many still believe it to be the only real photograph of Nessie.
Time will tell if the “Lake Macquarie Sea Monster Photo” becomes the stuff of legend…
sources;
http://www.iflscience.com/
