SAD LOVE QUOTES: Loch Ness-like monster in Alaska captured on film?

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Loch Ness-like monster in Alaska captured on film?

Last updated at 12:40 PM on 20th July 2011

A large creature, 20 to 30ft long with humps on its back, moves menacingly through the waters of an Alaskan bay.

Filmed by a local fisherman in 2009, the unidentified creature has, of course, already drawn comparisons to Scotland's infamous Loch Ness Monster.

Scientists, however, believe that the Alaskan creature could be a Cadborosaurus - a type of sea serpent that got its name from Cadboro Bay in British Columbia and is said to roam the North Pacific.

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Startling discovery: The monster captured on video in 2009 in Alaska appeared to be up to 30ft with humps on its back

The video is being aired tonight, Tuesday, on Hillstranded, a new Discovery Channel special.

Paul LeBlond, former head of the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of British Columbia, told Discovery News: 'I am quite impressed with the video.

'Although it was shot under rainy circumstances in a bouncy ship, it's very genuine.'

The Cadborosaurus willsi, meaning 'reptile' or 'lizard' from Cadboro Bay, is an alleged sea serpent from the North Pacific thought to have a long neck, a horse-like head, large eyes, and back bumps that stick out of the water.

Sightings have been reported for years.

In 1937, a supposed body of the animal was found in the stomach of a whale captured by the Naden Harbour whaling station in the Queen Charlotte Islands, a British Columbia archipelago.

Head first: Another image shows the animal lifting his head out of the water

Samples of the animal were brought to the Provincial Museum in Victoria, where curator Francis Kermode concluded they belonged to a fetal baleen whale.

The animal's remains, however, later disappeared.

James Wakelun, a worker at the whaling station, last year said that he saw the creature's body and 'it wasn't an unborn whale.'

Like other cryptids, animals whose existence is suggested but not yet recognised by scientific consensus, the Cadborosaurus has existed only in grainy photographs and eyewitness accounts.

Stunned: Kelly Nash, centre, and fellow seasoned fishermen watch the beast on video

Quiet waters: The area off the coasts of Alaska and Canada where the creature was spotted

The 2009 video, therefore, 'adds to its authentication,' said Mr LeBlond, co-author of the book Cadborosaurus: Survivor From The Deep.

John Kirk, president of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, agrees, describing the video as being 'important.'

He said: 'The fishermen simply don't know what they have got in terms of the creatures in this video.'

Some scientists have arged down the years that the Cadborosaurus is actually a frill shark or a large eel.

LeBlond argues that it cannot be a fish because of the way Cadborosaurus moves.

He said: 'It must be a mammal or a reptile, since it oscillates up and down in a vertical plain, which eliminates sideways-oscillating fish.'

Mystery: The carcass of what was thought to be Cadborosaurus willsi in October 1937

Andy Hillstrand, star of the Deadliest Catch television show, believes he may have seen a Cadborosaurus while filming Hillstranded.

'We saw a big, long white thing moving in the water. We chased it for about 20 minutes.

'Spray came out of its head. It was definitely not a shark.

'A giant eel may be possible, but eels don't have humps that all move in unison. I've never seen anything like it before.'

He speculates that whales, following salmon, might be pushing the animals closer to shores and in the view of humans.

While Mr Hillstrand is acutely aware of the controversy and skepticism over such sightings, he believes the fishermen who have reported seeing the animal 'are not a bunch of fruitcakes. These are people who are familiar with the local marine life.'