Friday, 12 February 2016

Nessie News

Just to balance things out on the Sir Peter Scott Nessie is a hoax story from a couple of weeks ago. I had come across another story on the subject a while ago, and which I just rediscovered .... basically its another of those satellite earth photos stories, in which enthusiasts pore over them looking for the unusual or anomalous.

Eagle Eyed Apple Map App User Spotted Something In Loch Ness.
Eagle Eyed Apple Map App User Spotted Something In Loch Ness.

However this is not a Google earth snap (where Nessie has been Spotted before), but its arch rival Apple, who way back in 2014 were allowing their satellite map app to tap into a satellite high in the atmosphere, to access views of images of earth. Someone was poring over pictures from Loch Ness, Scotland, and spotted something in the water. 
 
So they adjusted it .....

There's Definitely Something There ...
Definitely Something There ...
 
..... and sure enough there was apparently a creature in the water. Of course enlargement was possible as well ......

Even When Not Enhanced, It Looks Remarkably Like A Large Marine Creature
Even When Not Enhanced, It Looks Remarkably Like A Large Marine Creature
 
And When Enhanced and Enlarged ... Even More So.
And When Enhanced and Enlarged ... Even More So.

..... And there's no denying what it looks like. A large marine creature of some sort (estimated by the images at measuring around 100ft long ... apparently). This of course set fins all a quiver amongst the 'experts' at the 'Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club', where they apparently discounted various explanations for the image ... leaving them to conclude it was 'likely’ to be the ever elusive beast.

However, not to burst anyone's bubbles .... but I suspect that if it really was a creature in the picture, then it was possibly just a very, very large catfish. The largest recorded to date was nearly nine feet long (2.7 meters), and as big as a grizzly bear, this behemoth, a Mekong giant catfish, tipped the scales at 646 pounds (293 kilograms) when captured in Thailand.

Giant Catfish In Freshwater
Giant Catfish In Freshwater

BUT only this week, it was reported that on the Danube river, a blockage at a Hydro electric scheme was found to have been caused by a dead 'monster' catfish, which had blocked the inlet filters. It was an incredible 2.25 metres (7.4 feet) in length, and weighed over 90 kilogrammes (over 14 stone) .... so they can reach very much larger sizes than people realise.

Perhaps the Loch Ness holds an unknown, and very large species of Wels catfish (possibly secretly introduced in the past)?

Giant Wels Catfish Have Been Introduced To A Few European Waters
Giant Wels Catfish Have Been Introduced To A Few European Waters.

4 comments:

  1. It looks very much like a motor boat and its wake. It would be seen as such on any other lake.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, but therein lies the magic to those who want to believe .... Remember 'The truth (or a version thereof), is out there' as the rejuvenated X-Files would say.

      Delete
    2. I tried to watch that but I found it too annoying. I could just imagine fans of such theories lapping it up as if it were more than a bit of TV fiction.

      Delete
    3. I was a big fan, but not seen new series. I have managed to retain my ability to differentiate between TV fiction and reality (I hope).

      Delete

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