Ah how we love Forteana stories on this blog ..... Hurricane Irma didn't just disturb the citizens of the US coast, but also it seems the denizens of the deep.
This creature was washed up on the beach and caused a minor twitter storm as its readers 're-tweeted' (is that a word?) the pictures taken by a Texan beach comber near Texas City. Of course immediately the words 'sea monster' appeared and it went viral.
This may partly be because of an urban folk memory of the earlier monsters from the 1950's, such as the Moore's Beach Monster with which the images have a superficial resemblance ..... they don't make them like that any more.
Or perhaps they do ....
Eventually the pictures from the Texas city beach were sent to marine biologist Dr Kenneth Tighe, who identified it as a fangtooth snake-eel (aka the "tusky" eel, is usually found in waters between 30 and 90 metres deep in the western Atlantic ocean), or maybe a garden eel, or even a conger eel. Well that firm(ish) identification should put the matter to bed .....
But as we all know, on the web these stories can have a life of their own, and this story may well emerge from the depths again ....suitably embellished of course.
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| Texas City Beach Creature .... |
This creature was washed up on the beach and caused a minor twitter storm as its readers 're-tweeted' (is that a word?) the pictures taken by a Texan beach comber near Texas City. Of course immediately the words 'sea monster' appeared and it went viral.
This may partly be because of an urban folk memory of the earlier monsters from the 1950's, such as the Moore's Beach Monster with which the images have a superficial resemblance ..... they don't make them like that any more.
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| Sea Monsters |
Or perhaps they do ....
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| New Zealand Sea Monster |
Eventually the pictures from the Texas city beach were sent to marine biologist Dr Kenneth Tighe, who identified it as a fangtooth snake-eel (aka the "tusky" eel, is usually found in waters between 30 and 90 metres deep in the western Atlantic ocean), or maybe a garden eel, or even a conger eel. Well that firm(ish) identification should put the matter to bed .....
But as we all know, on the web these stories can have a life of their own, and this story may well emerge from the depths again ....suitably embellished of course.
Before the invention of photography these creatures would already be twice as big with twice as many heads and with teeth twice as long!
ReplyDeleteTheir still pretty neat though.
DeleteYes there's nothing like reality. When they were twice as big through lack of evidence they could always be dismissed but with photos, not only are they impressive but they can't be dismissed either!
Delete