New Devon Coast Sea Serpent Photograph
Posted by: Loren Coleman on July 30th, 2010
The Marine Conservation Society has issued the following statements regarding the above photograph:
Gill Pearce spotted the creature about 20 metres from the bay at Saltern Cove, near Goodrington. It was observed at about 15.30 on 27 July [2010] but by the time she had got her camera it had moved further out. She spotted it following a shoal of fish which beached themselves in Saltern Cove.
The creature remained in the sea, then went out again and followed the shoal – this indicates it’s not a turtle as they only eat jellyfish. We would love to know if other people have seen anything like this in the same area and can help clear up the mystery.
[Sperm whales] wouldn’t come that close inshore and the reptilian-like head counts that out – at least that’s what the experts are saying!
It was reported as a turtle as it had large front flippers and small back flippers and what appeared to be a shell but was also said to have a small head on a thin neck about two-feet long which craned above the surface like a Plesiosaur.
It’s described as being as long as a sea lion with a long neck which floated at the same height in the water all the time.
This is not a fake.
The problem is the distance and clarity from which the photos were taken.
The lady thought it may have been a turtle – but turtles don’t chase fish
It was reported as a turtle as it had large front flippers and small back flippers and what appeared to be a shell.
But it was also said to have a small head on a thin neck about two feet long, which craned above the surface like a Plesiosaur.
No sea turtles do that with their heads and we do not know of similarly described freshwater turtles that grow so big.
So at the moment it is ‘unidentified’ – the person who reported it has trawled the internet and says the closest ID fit is a giant green sea turtle – but the description of the head doesn’t add up.
Read more here.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Nothing there but a little ripple in the water and wild story.
Nothing there but a wave in the water.
Another blurry image that could be anything… But at least it’s better than nothing 🙂 And if it was a turtle it doesn’t mean it was hunting fish as they say, seems more like coincidence + wishful thinking… From the report they named “Plesiosaur”, and from then on I thought they want to see something exotic! BUT… If they can get more images I’ll be happy =)
What a frustrating image. It looks nearly identical to every other sea monster photograph taken… a couple blurry black spots in the water. I’m not saying it’s fake or anything, but some day there has got to be at least one person out there with a decent camera when something like this appears.
So many of these lake “creature” pictures cease to excite, due to so many of them not having any size/distance reference points. Oh yeah, the “clarity” is a problem too.
Am I supposed to believe from this that all seven species of sea turtle only eat jellyfish? Well I don’t, because I know it isn’t true. Even if they did I would still have an easier time buying a sea turtle than a plesiosaur.
Typically sea monster shot, and completely worthless.
As frustrating as the blurry pictures can be, people like Korollocke are even more so.
“Nothing, just a wave”
“Just a log in the water”
Yes, it could be. But just dismissing it and dusting your hands of it is the wrong thing to do.
A few questions I would ask would be, was she standing on the beach or was she in a boat? Being in a boat and having your camera zoomed in, of course the picture is going to turn out blurry.
If the thing–whatever it was–was moving farther out, it couldn’t have been a wave.
She said it was following a shoal of fish. I had never heard that before, but apparently it’s a mixed group of different species of fish. So, obviously she saw the fish, and claims this thing was following them. If they were moving, wouldn’t it make sense that they were evading a predator?
Just throwing those things out there. Just makes me mad whenever there’s a sighting of something, and we get either a picture or a video, people always say “Log” or “Wave”. We’ll never find or discover a “sea monster” if all people ever do is dismiss the sightings.
Well, IF this is a picture of an animal it certainly does NOT look like any sea turtle I’ve ever seen…The dimensions are wrong, wrong, wrong. The head is WAY too far from the “shell. But this could be a wave or a seal, or a turtle with a deceptive wave out front that LOOKS like a neck-head. My guess? I don’t know. But, I agree that the out of focus photo is a typical let-down.
Yeah, this is the maddening thing about the sea/lake cryptos, getting a gooooood photo or footage is harder I think than for things like even BF because we only get a chance to shoot on one plane, the surface of the water. You have to be in the right place at the right time with your camera ready to get a solid shot, and most people shooting these pics are not professional photographers, and people freak when they see something out of the norm anyway, and so on and so on.
The picture is blurry and there’s no scale to tell how far out the object is, and indeed whether it is a wave or a creature or something else. All the way around it’s too inconclusive to say that it is or isn’t something, because there’s not enough facts to narrow down the field.
Now, if you believe the witness, then we’ve got a creature because it was observed moving and following a shoal of fish. And it doesn’t sound like a standard seal, sea cow, whale, etc. with the elongated head and neck.
However, in this day and age, you cannot take any witness at face value, and certainly not a single person. And the photo is just suggestive enough to let the imagination fill in the gaps.
Give me another half dozen people who happened to see this thing, all of whom have no tie to one another, with similar descriptions, maybe even another photo, and some info to draw on, and then we have ourselves something to consider and get excited about.
It’d be easier it was a video and not a blurry picture. Always difficult to figure out blurry pictures. Don’t think it’s a sea turtle though. Don’t think it’s a Plesiosaur either.
Would like to know what camera she used. It’s 2010 and I make better photos with my cellphone… C’mooon. Just one clear picture of a cryptid.. Just ONE!