Spotting sea monsters

Creatures of the deep caught in net; carcass later sinks

By Kenny Sharpe

Normally when they wash up they have no bones, no cartilage, and they reek. The latest unidentified sea monster to surface the seas surrounding this province is being considered by a team of biologists here at Memorial.

Longtime Lance Cove fisherman, John Marsh, was called to help his boat mates to free what they thought to be a dead whale caught in one of their nets.

In an interview with The Telegram, Marsh explains that when he and his fellow fishing friends brought the net up to free the mass, it was unlike anything he had ever seen. The dead creature’s skin was, as he called it, “smooth as glass” and was colors of “pretty green and blue.”

While the carcass of the suspected sea monster sank to the ocean floor before a photo and sample of it could be retrieved, Marsh did provide an explanation of the creature from which an artist’s rendition was made.

Steven Carr, a professor of biology at Memorial, said the province’s history and coastline is littered with sightings and stories of peculiar sea creatures, both dead and alive.

While the true identity of the latest Nessie may never be revealed, Carr offers some of his knowledge and experience about the unidentified creature.

“The one at Lance Cove – we don’t have a lot of material. There are no photos, no samples…just a statement from buddy,” he said. “On this one the identification is simply listening to the story and saying we have heard of this before. In the absence of any DNA and in the absence of any photographs, the particular critter that the finder saw is, I would say, a basking shark,” said Carr.

There have been several dead creatures thought to be deep-sea monsters that have washed ashore in this province only later to be tested and identified as various whales, sharks, or other known sea animals.

Most often, it’s after the bones, muscles, and cartilage have long since rotted in the corrosive ocean leaving behind blubbery remains.

Carr says it’s human nature for the mind to create images of shy and rarely seen sea monsters but that, in the end, most have an explanation.

“Most things that wash up and are thought to be sea monsters do have an explanation based on something that we already know about,” said Carr.

Should there be a sample to analyze, Carr says Memorial has the equipment on campus to obtain a DNA chain, at which point the chain would be entered into an international database for identification.

With no sample and just a description, the story of the Lance Cove sea monster may forever remain a mystery, adding to the long list of creatures swimming in the deep.

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