Corfu Cryptid
Posted by: Loren Coleman on October 28th, 2015
What is this Sea Cryptid photographed off Corfu, near Greece?
Link to story.
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.
How can someone not see a hippo-like gray creature in a see of blue? Is it some type of bathroom toy submerged as a possible hoax?
Looks very much like a cuttlefish or squid to me.
I know that some species of cuttlefish at least can and do come in coastal water.
Whatever it is, I’m assuming it must have surfaced while he was clicking…weird indeed. It does have that hippo look, but then again.
As always, there are no real details such as what it did after he took the picture (if he says he never actually saw it until the picture came out he was either stoned or mentally altered.
I’ve been looking trying to decide if it could be some sort of hoaxed close up but my imagination isn’t good enough to see something yet.
I’m gonna need to see some pictures of cuttlefish or squid that look anything like that. That’s not a cephalopod-type beak, who what part of a cephalopod is it?
I get an impression of relative smallness, based upon the bubbles. There seems to be a kind of differentiated appendage or fin under the surface.
It could be a fake. But I’m not sure of the purpose.
I can’t see anything that looks like actual nostrils, and the spot looks like a spot, not an eye.
However, there IS something that looks ear-like just to the left of the bubbles, and something that appears to match it on the opposite side. And some wrinkling where a neck would be.
Hi everyone,
First time poster here from Greece. A friend shared a link to this article on my Facebook profile. I agree that it looks like a dolphin-hippo hybrid. But do you think we could be looking at the underside of a bottle nosed dolphin or a beaked whale?
> How can someone not see a hippo-like gray creature in a see of blue?
Yup, I can see that. It ostensibly looks like a hippo-like creature with a long snout, facing upwards to the left. The black dot is positioned just where a hippo’s eye would be. Thus the human brain pattern matches and makes a hippo.
BUT… that’s only an ostensible appearance. What it ALSO resembles is a cuttlefish with its tentacles grouped together to the upper left. The lower ridge or flap that looks like a hippos’ mouth is possibly the length-wise edge of a tentacle or a tentacle folded back. The top flap/ridge is another of the tentacles.
To put it simply, a cuttlefish is a not-unlikely explanation. I admit that I don’t know a great deal about cuttlefish or squid but I have observed shoals of small cuttlefish coming into a small estuary on the south west coast of Wales (River Ogmore just downriver from Ogmore Castle if you want to check it out) at high tide such that they got marooned when the tide went out. Finding hundreds of small cuttlefish on the grass by the riverside was very odd.
> Is it some type of bathroom toy submerged as a possible hoax?
Could be. There’s no way to rule out a hoax. All I can say, as above, is that a cuttlefish (or squid maybe) is a plausible explanation for what is in that picture, taking appearance and coastal location into account.
I get it now. So, basically he held the camera over the side and clicked without paying attention…that’s too bad.
Whatever it was, it obviously didn’t cause a ruckus…and we have no real scale for size…and so on and such forth…
If we’ve learned anything about the oceans and seas of the world it’s that there is plenty of room for all kinds of critters, big and small and to say that there are no “sea monsters” out there is to be close minded as well as ignorant.
Are we sure this isn’t a rubber ducky in a tub ?
Well, it is an interesting photograph to say the least. However, at initial inspection, I can not declare this as a living creature or even an animate object.
Initially speaking, I believe this is a case of pareidolia. I say this for a couple of reasons upon briefly looking at the photograph. The snout part of the the supposed creature reminds me of a plastic fender or painted metallic fender for the rear wheel of a bike, moped, etc. Enlarge the photo a look at it in parts. The supposed head of the creature has symmetrical lines that appear to be machined processed. It could be a rubber like or plastic material as well.
The supposed nostril of the creature is just one hole. Typically, we expect to see bilateral symmetry in nature when it comes to nostrils. So that is curious.
The eye of the supposed creature upon enlargement is more squared than round. But I guess there might be some possible animal in the world with a squarish eye. For me, it is more probable that the supposed eye of the creature is a machined hole.
Where the supposed neck of the creature should be, at first glance looks like folds of skin from the creature lifting it’s head. Upon closer inspection when enlarged, it looks like someone put that fender over the top of a rock. If you look closely, there is delineation between the supposed creature’s head and supposed creature’s body.There is demarcation between the head and body. Is it a supposed two toned creature, like a panda? Perhaps. But more likely than not, the supposed bottom part of the creature is a rock and the top part is a machined man made item that someone positioned over the rock. Maybe while exploring the cave, that rock did damage to several boat bottoms. So some quick thinking person put something over the top point of that rock as not to damage boats on future exploration of the cave. That is more logical and makes more sense.
And the supposed flipper of the creature is merely a crevice in the rock that looks like a flipper due to pareidolia.
If you look at the water, it is certainly filled with particles but clear enough to see detail. That is fine. But I know when using a flash to illuminate water, the water and the added particles diminish the intensity of the flash. With that being said, if the proposed creature had dolphin like skin, the reflectivity of the flash off the skin would be less than what we see in the photo. For me, this is a huge red flag, as we see a greater amount of flash reflection, midway down the proposed creatures snout. Only highly polished metals and plastic would produce that effect.
So I think this is something else other than a new type of creature. I will try to do a little more analysis if I have time. But given the facts I stated above, it would not be a wise investment of my time.
This is most likely a case of pareidolia.
Looks like a Ziphius cavirostris (beaked whale). Look it up on Google – it fits perfect and they are common for the Mediterranean
now HERE is a real monster.
11 foot long sturgeon.
wtf!
A FENDER? Sorry, can’t see it.
Nope, definitely not a Beaked Whale. They have porpoise beak, not a flattened duck beak.
It would be hard to believe that the photographer wouldn’t notice that a sizable whale had come into his view range. Cuvier’s Beaked Whales can be over 20 feet in length. Difficult to miss at 10 or even 5 feet in length.
If this actually is a living animal and I had to hazard a guess to it’s identity, I would say that it was a squid or some other marine invertebrate.
There is something about the “snout” portion of the creature that’s familiar, like it’s a part to something or some device that snaps onto something else. It’s just not coming to me at the moment. The size of the thing can’t be colossal in respect to the surface bubbles.
Oh, and welcome back, Loren. You’ve been missed.
I spent yesterday morning looking at the image in every possible way (upside down, backwards, etc.) and my brilliant conclusion is: squid. I put together a comparison image – you can check it out here: http://americanjerky.com/p/squid
..and order some jerky while you’re there.
Seems it is likely a freeboard fender, basically a bumper for boats between the hull and docks or other objects. All shapes and colors.