Loch Ness Toad
Posted by: Loren Coleman on May 4th, 2007
Look what Robert Rines-linked investigations have turned up recently at the bottom of Loch Ness. A common toad. Why was it down there? What was it doing? What else is down there?
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.
This is quite baffling! The common Toad (Bufo bufo) is certainly not a great swimmer and tends to walk and crawl where possible. Allot of their life is spent hunting for small inverts on land nocturnally, I have to say my first hypothesis was that this is an anomaly, however what are the chances of finding the only toad at the bottom of the vast loch! It may be that there is a perfect niche down there, iIguess its pretty dark and perhaps they are feeding on trapped or sunken terrestrial or aquatic fauna. I would like to know the temp down there; these fellas are exotherms after all!
You should probably mention that it was found at over 300 ft. down – not as extreme as the deepest part of the loch (700ft.+) but waaaayyy down there for a toad.
Maybe the biologists here can help me out, but I thought toads were primarilly land dwellers and frogs were the water dwellers. Is that correct?
Well, it’s known that toads will hibernate at the bottom of ponds, and that aside from that they are most often in the water during mating season. Here’s a thought: Perhaps the cold water at that depth let this toad hybernate more efficiently or longer? Just speculation of course.
Rilo – There are no real hard and fast rules both frogs and toads are amphibious, that is, part of there life is spent on land and part in water. Many species including this one really only return to water to mate and spawn, that said they are most often found in and around ponds and lake all year round apart from winter when they tend to hibernate on land in compost heaps and wood piles etc. However Toads are very industrious where there is a will there’s a way. Some species will live in desert conditions going years without water; others live a totally aquatic life. The same however can be said of frogs, each species has different life habits.
Back to this example how sure were the finders that is a common toad and not a diverged new sub species or similar, it sure looks like a common toad and common sense would suggest so but then common sense would not put one at the bottom of a loch!
Perhaps a species of Giant Toad exists and that gave rise to the Loch Ness Monster.
I think it was down there looking for the Loch Ness monster! 🙂 Seriously, no matter how you cut it, that is one really odd place for a toad to be. Was this really taken at a depth of 300 feet, as one poster said? That would make this a very unlikely place for a toad indeed, regardless of it’s species. Wierd.
This is definitely one of the more interesting articles I’ve seen for a while (no – I’m not being sarcastic).
Are we certain the toad is alive? If so, this seems fairly unprecedented. I’m certainly no expert on amphibians, but it seems odd for any frog or toad to be this deep in a body of water.
Regardless, this, combined with some other findings deep in the Loch really show that it’s still possible to discover new things even after all this time.
If I remember this right, don’t frog and toads have a soft skeletal system? I don’t think this would normally allow survival at the depths of 324 feet.
Although it might look like a common species it would have to have some sort of modification to survive at that depths, which would make it a new species or subspecies.
I know a number of sharks live at extreme depths with an active cartilage structure, which they should not be able to, but this is totally different.
Ranatemporaria:
Thanks for the info. Very detailed. I had no idea there was such variation in frogs and toads!
If someone said they saw a toad that deep in cold water anywhere would you believe them if they didn’t have a photograph? Was it truly at that depth or even at Loch Ness; or if they placed the poor toad there themselves? Reminds me of reports of toads hopping from opened lumps of coal, or raining on villages before cameras were common. Frogs and toads permeate the world of weirdness. Has anyone read the story of the man with flying-saucer disease, who rolled a tire from Chicago to St. Louis and met tiny, kissing frog-things? It’s those first-hand stories that keep me wondering well past bedtime and sanity.
Did the discoverers say anything about it moving much? Probably “fell” in and being cold blooded, just sank to the bottom. Not saying it’s dead, but someone above mention hibernation. 300 ft down? That could cause quite the headache for a land dweller. Maybe Nessie is playing a practical joke.
Is the number on the photo representing the depth at which it was taken? Or is it just odd coincidence that a poster identified the depth as in that range?
Whatever, that animal sure don’t look dead to me. And I would never expect any amphibian – a toad least of all – at that depth. I’m not a herpetologist though. Any out there?
That’s not a toad that’s a baby Loch Ness monster! 😀
If I remember right, there was a very old story of a diver searching for the loch ness monster and instead seeing a “giant toad” perched on an under water rock overhang….does anyone else remember reading this one….?
The real question is, can you bloody understand him when he croaks.
8^)
-Jack
To Maine Crypto:
I think the diver spotting a giant toad was Duncan MacDonald & the story goes back to 1889. I must have read that in Nicholas Witchell’s book.