The world's oceans cover two-thirds of the Earth's surface, and reach a depth of 11 miles (17.7 km). It has often been said that scientists know less about the ocean depths than they do about outer space. It should come as little surprise, then, that creatures like the sea serpent have largely evaded the grasp of conventional zoology. While the size and markings of this awesome animal obviously vary with maturity, most sightings confirm that fully grown adults are 200 ft long, and have a body some 20 ft thick, with dark brown or black skin, often with a white or yellow underside. Some reports describe a seaweed-like 'mane' (which may be a secondary sexual characteristic, designed to help attract a mate) and almost all describe fiercely glowing, mesmeric eyes that stare up through the water.Eggs-empt
In addition, sea serpents share a number of adaptive features with their smaller brethren the sea snake, ideally suiting them for a life in the ocean. On the top of their heads they have nostrils that can be sealed with a special valve, and their tails are deep but laterally compressed in order to act more effectively as paddles. The structure of their scales prevents them from moving on land, restricting them to a marine environment. This presents difficulties in reproduction. Most reptiles, even amphibious ones such as sea turtles, need to come ashore in order to lay eggs--a perilous exercise that leaves the reptile vulnerable to predators. The Hydrophiidae, the group to which most cryptotaxonomists consider sea serpents to belong, bear live young (are viviparous)--completing their adaptation to the aquatic world.
Sea serpents have been sighted in both coastal waters and the deep ocean, and are probably at home in either habitat, freely adapting their diet to include fish, sharks, dolphins, squid and even humans, if the opportunity presents itself. There have been several attacks on boats and even large ships, and one report relates a titanic tussle between a particularly large sea serpent and a sperm whale.
Fangs Very Much
Classical writers often claimed that the sea serpent had a venomous bite. Other, smaller sea snakes are very poisonous, so there is good reason to suspect that the classical authorities are accurate. The sight of these fearsomely fanged monsters would be enough to strike fear into the heart of even the saltiest of salty dogs. Huge sea serpents were also a common feature of many of the world's great mythologies: Jormungandr, the serpent that encircled Midgard (Earth) in Norse mythology, was a perennial foe of Thor's. Aristotle, writing in the 4th century BC, provides one of the earliest accounts of real sea serpents. In his Historia Animalium, he describes them as 'very large,' and relates how mariners off the coast of Libya saw the bones of oxen eaten by sea serpents before coming under attack themselves. One of their triremes was capsized by the combined efforts of several angry serpents.
Documented reports exist spanning the classical era and the Middle Ages. One well-known sighting was by Olaus Magnus, Archbishop of Uppsala, who tells in his History of the Northern People (1555) of an enormous sea creatures that haunted fishermen around the coastal waters of Norway. His description is detailed: 'He hath commonly hair hanging from his neck a cubit long, and sharp scales and is black, and he hath flaming shining eyes.' One of the most influential reports was that of the renowned Norwegian Bishop Hans Egede. En route to Greenland in 1734, the clergyman encountered a serpent that raised itself out of the water so that its head was higher than the main mast. When it fell back into the sea, its tail was observed to be much longer than the ship itself.
The general climate of opinion remained biased against the existence of sea serpents until the famous 1848 sighting by the crew of HMS Daedalus, a British Navy ship, between the Cape of Good Hope and St Helena. Captain Peter McQuhoe made a careful record of the sighting, and was brave enough to report the matter to his superiors on returning to London. His description of a 60-ft long, brown-skinned, white-throated creature with 'something like the mane of a horse ... washed about its back' sparked off a flood of similar stories from other mariners around the world. It seemed that there were many sailors whose fear of being ridiculed had deterred them from telling their tales.
Traffic Casualty
Most observers now accept that such serpents exist. However, although sightings continued into this century--a creature known as Cadborosaurus was seen off the Canadian coast as recently as September 1994--they fell dramatically in frequency. The serpent's geographical distribution has also changed: in classical times, the creatures were common in the Mediterranean, but since the Industrial Revolution, sightings became increasingly confined to very remote parts of the oceans. The most likely explanation is that their numbers have fallen through a combination of general pollution and a great increase in naval traffic. There remains a persistent tendency to dismiss sightings of the sea serpent as mere giant squid or whales, or even as a school of porpoises--which might give the impression of being a single, long creature as they leap through the air in procession.
Most cryptozoologists believe that sea serpents are in fact plesiosaurs or pliosaurs--like their cousins the lake monsters, living fossils from the age of the dinosaurs. The current scarcity of sea serpents, and the extreme difficulty of catching a specimen for study, means that this may well be the last word on this giant of the seas.
-Joel Levy
Image: Photographer Robert Le Serrec snapped this giant tadpole-like creature in Australia's Barrier Reef.
