NZ Sea Serpent
Posted by: Loren Coleman on November 9th, 2008
West Coast Times, New Zealand
August 16, 1900
THE SEA SERPENT.
[Press Association] (Received August 16, at 9.50 a m) Perth, Aug 16.
For a couple of hours the captain and crew of the steamer Perth watched a fight between a serpentine creature and a whale, off Geraldton. The strange monster at times reared 20 feet out of water with a head like a serpent. The body was like a ribbon, about 6 feet wide.
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.
I’m thinking giant squid? I love these old stories. Very intriguing and trigger the imagination.
I also thought Giant Squid. Who in Heaven knows?
Yeah, I was thinking giant squid too.
They are only very rarely seen near the surface, so even seasoned seamen aboard a steamer (try saying that 10 times really fast) might be surprised to see something like that. There are cases of whales battling with squid on the surface, or even acting aggressively towards boats, but it is by no means a common occurrence. I can also imagine a giant squid seen under certain circumstances might look like something serpentine. Maybe a long tentacle rearing out of the water could be mistaken for a head atop a long neck, and a ribbon-like body definitely sounds like it could be a misidentified squid. The distance described for the rearing out of the water 20 feet is fitting within the parameters of giant squid tentacle length, especially the longer feeding tentacles. While the 6 foot estimate for the width of the body is very large for the width of a giant or colossal squid’s mantle, it also seems to me under the circumstances that an accurate size estimate might not have been possible. There’s also the possibility that an extremely large specimen was witnessed?
Without more information, I’m leaning towards a giant or colossal squid on this one.
i would say from the description a giant eel.
Well, giant squid is the most obvious thing to think… , but u never know.. I seriously imagine something similar to the creature depicted on this website to the right and above “main page” link.
There was an account of that taking place in the Atlantic Ocean back in the 1800’s as well. There was a lot of debate over sea serpent vs squid and I think for that particular case and probably this one, I would put my money on squid too…whales are known for dining on giant squid, so to see a whale battling something–in all likely hood, it’s a squid.
I can say to Cryptidrus that God knows, but if you don’t believe that then that’s cool. 🙂
I say eel. Snake feature. But squids don’t have serpent imagery. So it can be a Unknown eel, serpent, unknown animal that is not a sea snake, hhmmmmmm, could it be a cause eels don’t have ribbon like features.
yet alone a snake.
So it’s unknown. Glad to know that.
I say it’s blue, and 6 ft wide you say, then no it’s not snake or eel, unless they can mate with some kind of species that are the same kind as them, them what ever mated has to be large enough to have a 6ft wide, or less.
For that reason, it’s like a Lion and a tiger makeing a larger animal.
Lion and tiger look so different that you can tell they are different.
I’d have to disagree with the comment of squids not having serpent imagery and say that squids can have very serpent like imagery, namely their tentacles.
Most of a squid’s body length are made up of these tentacles which look about as much like a snake as anything else. A tentacle could look just like a serpent, and a plethora of tentacles could give the impression of coils or of one long, serpentine animal. In addition, the report cites the main detail as a long neck of some kind rearing out of the water. The serpent head is kind of odd, but squid would fit in some respects and a squid battling with a whale on the surface is not unheard of. Also, considering some of these old reports were often sensationalized, the serpent head could have been a fully fabricated feature.
So can we jump to conclusions of a previously undocumented giant eel fighting with a whale? No eel gets anywhere near that length so it would be an amazing development, not to mention that eels are not in the habit of raising their heads all the way up out of the water as described.
Snake then? I find it hard to swallow that even the largest known swimming snakes that might even approach the kind of length mentioned (such as an anaconda) would be far out at sea tussling with whales. Also, even if a snake was that big, was fully sea going, and did fight with whales, I doubt it would be physically able to rear its head 20 feet out of the water like that. How big would that snake have to be? Even if it was 60 feet long, that would be a third of its body length lifted clear out of the water and held there. Despite the cool image, snakes just aren’t built that way.
It could have been some other undocumented large marine animal, but why throw out the more mundane possibilities? For now I am trying to consider explanations such as a giant or colossal squid (which we know exist), that fits some of the criteria (serpentine tentacles, ribbon like body), has precedent for being seen fighting with whales, can get very large, and is rarely enough seen to maybe surprise a ship’s crew or cause them to spruce up their story (a thing not unheard of in that day). If I have to choose that or a giant unknown snake, eel, or other marine animal based on the description involved, I’d say there’s a good possibility this might have been a squid.
Dj Plasmic Nebula, that is some really interesting thinking 🙂 – the “Liger Effect”!
Could it be a form of unusual hybrid: squids, sea lions, seals, eels, … ?
Like mystery_man mentioned, it would be quite improbable that a snake-like being could raise it’s neck/head that far out of the water. I am not the best person to solve physics problems but it all has to do with buoyancy and size and shape of said being. A squid has a large “base”, it’s body to use to push against in order to raise a tentacle, a snake-like being would not. A creature much like a plesiosaur might be bale to though I believe scientists insist it’s neck would not hold the weight out of water. All said, squid is the most plausible… but then again it would be no fun at all if we jumped for the easiest answer immediately now would it? 😛
Sounds to me more like a squid than anything else, unless it is an unknown. However aren’t giant squids a deep water creature which means if a whale was in a battle with one, which is fairly common since sucker marks have been found on whales, wouldn’t bringing it to the surface cause it to explode due to explosive decompression?
it could be a supent you never now!!!!
Kitsos- It’s exactly like that.
It takes a certain type of body with the right buoyancy, body size and shape, and the right skeletal and muscular configuration to be able to raise its neck high out of the water and hold it up like that. And you are right, there are scientists who believe that the image of plesiosaurs craning their heads dramatically out of the water is not accurate, and that they likely did not have the capacity to do something like that.
A very long neck attached to a proportionately shorter body on a vertebrate in a marine environment is going to impose certain physical restrictions on how well and how far it can rear its head out of the water. A long, narrow animal like a snake or eel is going to be somewhat limited just by the physics involved. A squid could probably pull it off because it has the strong, thick, buoyant mantle to help keep it afloat and its tentacles are solid, flexible muscles with a large range of movement and without the added limitations a skeletal structure might impose under the circumstances.
If we are going to speculate, I find the possibility of a large, unknown long necked sea mammal, like a long necked seal, to be more likely than a giant marine serpent in this case. However, I still think there’s a good chance this was a squid.
Archer1945- There isn’t really much known about exactly what the effects are on a giant squid when it is brought to the surface. Most of the specimens found at the surface are already dead and the squid typically lives in very deep waters. It is a very mysterious animal. What is known is that it is likely warm water that typically forces them to the surface (or being dragged there by a whale), whereupon they can be unable to return to the depths. Since the squid’s blood cannot carry oxygen efficiently in warmer water, a likely cause of death for giant squid at the surface is thought to be suffocation. If they find themselves near the surface and cannot return to deeper, colder, more oxygen rich waters, they will suffocate for sure.
Perhaps decompression plays a role too, but the fact is they do not seem to spontaneously or explosively decompress. Clearly they can stay alive at least long enough for the duration of a sighting or maybe even long enough to get back to colder waters. There have been sightings of squid fighting with whales at the surface, and there is even a report of one attacking a boat at the surface. In the 1930s, the Norwegian 15,000 ton tanker Brunswick was attacked at least three times by a squid. It would appear, pace the boat, and then rush in to wrap its tentacles around the hull. It finally was dragged into the ship’s propellers and died. They have also been infrequently seen swimming at the surface too, probably brought there by warm water currents.
So it seems the giant squid can survive at least a little while at the surface, but not enough is known to really ascertain the extent of this. But no, the surface doesn’t seem to be a very healthy place to be for them.
One more little thing is that most of the impressive evidence of giant squid that Sperm whales have attacked has been gained from studying the contents of the whales’ stomachs, not from the sucker marks left behind.
Wow .. please guys a little bit of geographical knowledge.
Firstly this was reported in New Zealand but the incident happened in Geralton, this if you didn’t know is on the western most point of Australia.
There is a ridge there but it is way way of shore and not on any shipping routes.
The only great whales that migrate along this path are humpback whales. I do not doubt a Sperm whale ever came that way – but considering the plate ridge is so far out it is unlikely to have been on a shipping lane.
No giant squid have ever been washed up (to my knowledge) in Western Australia.
Squid? .. No.
Giant Eel… sure. How big do you think these things get? Big enough to wrestle a massive Humpback? – hardly.
The description
1) It had an identifiable head I.E. eyes and Mouth
2) It was ribbon shaped (not sure what this means)
3) its body was 6 feet WIDE
4) Was at least 20 feet Lone
The short of it – hypothetically just say it was a sperm whale and a Giant squid (impossible at that location) the squid would not have been in any state to “fight”
I promise you seaman could identify a squid not matter how big or small it was.
For what it was? No idea, but not a squid.
Courage- Please get your facts straight.
The sperm whale IS found in Australia. In fact, it is found in all ocean waters of the world, in most marine waters over 1,000 meters deep except the Black Sea. Also, the Sperm whale reaches bigger sizes than the humpback whale, so I’m not sure where you got the idea that a squid would not tangle with one. Sperm whales can reach 49 to over 50 feet long, whereas humpback males reach 40 to 48 feet long and females 40 to 50 feet long. So sperm whales are bigger than the “huge” humpback whales you describe, and they are found in Australian waters. So I’m not sure what you are getting at. Sorry, but your facts are incorrect.
Squid? Yes. I think it is a very good chance.
Giant eel? No evidence whatsoever.
Courage- Just because I want to make my stance clear, here is a fact check on sizes and ranges of the Sperm whale and giant squid.
Male sperm whales reach lengths of 49 to 59 feet and they weigh 35 to 45 tons. Females are smaller, about 36 feet and 13 to 14 tons. they are found all over the world including Australia.
Humpback males are 40 to 48 feet long and females 45 to 50 feet. they weigh 25 to 40 tons. A squid that could fight a sperm whale could fight a humpback whale, although there would likely be no reason to do so unless the squid was the aggressor (although it could have been considering the report of one attacking a boat, possibly because it thought the boat was a whale).
Giant squid are found in Australia.
So let’s look at that. Giant squid are found in Australia, Sperm whales as well. The squid are food for Sperm whales. Giant squid have been seen at the surface, even been seen fighting with whales. These squid were probably dragged up, hence the fighting spirit. It is not so simple as saying the squid would not be in a “state to fight”.
I would say that my geographical knowledge is not an issue here. The facts add up and at this point I would suggest that a squid and whale is a more probable scenario than a completely undocumented giant eel for these reasons plus the other physical reasons I mentioned in earlier comments here. I see no reason to throw out this possibility.
Also, giant squid tentacles reach 20 feet long. The six foot wide body is strange, but I will tell you that no eel ever got even close to that size either.
Courage- And one more thing, since I want to make clear the size comparisons between the whales and the squid and since you asked “How big do these things get?”.
Size estimates for the giant squid are about 43 feet for females, and 33 feet for males. One of the largest specimens ever recorded was washed up in New Zealand actually, in 1887. It was reported as 55 feet long, but this was probably an exaggeration.
The colossal squid gets even larger, and is thought to reach lengths of 39 to 46 feet long.
That’s how big they get. Compare to the whale statistics I mentioned earlier.
Courage- I checked on squid carcasses found in Australia (since you got me thinking about it) and although there are quite a few in New South Wales, Victoria, and the West Coast of Tasmania, it seems the most Western example of one I could find was found in Albany, Western Australia. Not that near Geraldton I have to admit. Who knows, maybe you are right about the shipping lanes of the area being far from their habitat. Perhaps I misunderstood what you were trying to say (about the ridge rather than Australia in general).
However, I don’t suspect any giant eels have washed up there either and some giant squid sightings have taken place under odd circumstances. In addition, Some of these sightings may not have taken place near a ridge, since the same warm water currents that brought the squid up might have drifted them along.
Giant squid have oddly been seen in fairly shallow water too, far from where they are supposed to be found. There was even a report from Maine of two men watching a battle between a whale and a squid from a lighthouse on the shore. The battle apparently lasted for two hours and the squid allegedly won, so it seemed to have a lot of fight left in it. A squid that could stay alive that long could potentially wander fairly far.
Or it could have been something else and not a squid at all. I’m not completely close minded to that possibility. I’m just saying that strange things have happened, and sometimes they happen with known species.
Anyway, I apologize if I misinterpreted anything you said.
In my opinion but since there are things out there unexplainable it could be a “a so-called” extinct marine dinosaur, for example a colassal oarfish, or some giant eel-thing.
LOL giant squids and whales have always been enemies I’m sure this is what this is as well. In the excitement I’m sure the crew was paniced and wasn’t sure what they were seeing.
For those saying an eel couldn’t lift his (her) head/neck 20 feet out of the water due to physical impossibility – what if the eel was wrapped around the whale ? Lifting his head would be easy then since he has the ehale to lever against. Woudl also explain why you don’t see them every day since without a whale they are just flat in the water !!