Not exactly a giant dinosaur but maybe several giant eels? Scientists believe that they may have uncovered the mystery behind the great Loch Ness monster. First sighted by a man named Adomnán in 565 AD, the Loch Ness has been stoking imaginations (and hoaxes) for over a millennium. The most famous sighting was in 1934 by Robert Kenneth Wilson that spawned the now famous “surgeon’s photograph” which was later deemed a fake. But unlike the hoax photo, what scientists have discovered suggests that the centuries-old legend of the lake may have not been a complete myth after all.
A team from New Zealand’s Otago University conducted a DNA study of about 3,000 species residing in the Loch. While the researchers did not find any presence of 50-feet long plesiosaurs, they did notice the presence of some extremely large eels living in the murky waters.
“We can’t discount the possibility that what people see and believe is the Loch Ness Monster might be a giant eel,” concluded Otago geneticist professor, Neil Gemmel.
The Ness Fishery Board also shared a video showing what is thought to be a large eel moving through the loch at the start of this month.
The organization tweeted: “Lets be honest, when you see a large, eel shaped object passing your camera in the River Ness, the first thing you think of is the Loch Ness Monster.”
But with a straight face, Gemmel confirms that the Loch does not have any traces of dinosaur or reptile DNA.
Not exactly the prehistoric monster everyone was expecting but looks like there was some truth to the legend of the loch after all.