08-14-2003, 01:48 AM
[font "Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"]Mark Erdmann, a marine biologist from the University of California, was enjoying his 1997 honeymoon vacation in Indonesian when his new bride asked about a strange blue fish she saw in the market. Erdmann's mouth dropped open as he recognized the animal as a coelacanth. Erdmann knew that the fish was a member of a rare species and that until 1938 scientists had thought it had gone extinct with the dinosaurs. He also knew that at one time the fish was only thought to have lived off the Comoro Islands near Africa, but figured that they must have been discovered in Indonesia since then. It wasn't until Erdmann posted his honeymoon pictures, including one of the fish, on the web and he'd gotten a call from two coelacanth researchers at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, that he realized he'd stumbled upon a major scientific discovery: The coelacanth had a additional habitat some 6000 miles away from the original ones.[/font]
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[font "Arial"]Probably no legendary sea monster was as horrifying as the Kraken. According to stories this huge, many armed, creature could reach as high as the top of a sailing ship's main mast. Kraken's would attack a ship, wrap their arms around the hull and capsize it. The crew would drown or be eaten by the monster. What's amazing about the Kraken stories is that, of all the sea monster tales we have, we have the best evidence that these are real. they are large enough to wrestle with a sperm whale. On at least three occasions in the 1930's they attacked a ship. While the squids got the worst of these encounters when they slid into the ship's propellers, the fact that they attacked at all shows that it is possible for these creatures to mistake a vessel for a whale. [/font]
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[font "Arial"]Perhaps the most astounding case reported, came in Japanese waters back in 1977. A fishing trawler netted a huge heavy catch. When the fishermen brought it aboard, they saw the badly decomposed body of a strange unidentified gigantic sea creature. Its long neck dangled when they hung it up. This was no figment of their imagination. This decomposing sea creature's body weighed in at 4000 pounds. Upon careful observation, it was definitely not a fish, nor a whale nor any other recognizable creature. The captain of the ZUIYO MARU took pictures , it measured 32 feet long! Flesh samples were taken along with full color pictures. When he returned to shore, the captain developed the pictures and brought the findings to marine scientists. After they scoured over the information and photos of the remains, the scientists were truly baffled. This creature was totally unknown and could not be classified[/font]
[font "Arial"][size 4]>> >> ''Sea Monster'' Seen in Western Canadian Waters >> 5/6/94 [/size]
>> VANCOUVER (Reuter) - A snorting, 20-foot-long >> ``sea monster'' was spotted by two university students >> off the shores of a Pacific coastal beach in Victoria, British >> Columbia, the pair said Friday.
>> Ryan Green, 18, a Simon Fraser University business student, >> described the rocky-faced creature as a twin-humped, >> round-bodied monster that swam across Telegraph Bay near >> suburban Saanich. It was about 49 feet from the rock Green and >> his friend, Damian Grant, were sitting on.
>> Green said he and the 19-year-old general arts student at >> the University of Victoria saw the heavy-breathing creature >> surface twice before it disappeared into the calm waters.
>> ``All of a sudden, this head comes up, like a whale with no >> spray. And then this hump, the size of an inner tube in >> diameter. And then another hump. It's nothing I've ever seen >> before,'' said Green.
>> He stressed that the puzzled pair was sober at the time of >> the sighting.
>> Ed Bousfield, a biology research associate with the Royal >> British Columbia Museum, said the reptile-like creature is >> probably a cadborosaurus, one of the last living dinosaurs
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[font "Arial"]Probably no legendary sea monster was as horrifying as the Kraken. According to stories this huge, many armed, creature could reach as high as the top of a sailing ship's main mast. Kraken's would attack a ship, wrap their arms around the hull and capsize it. The crew would drown or be eaten by the monster. What's amazing about the Kraken stories is that, of all the sea monster tales we have, we have the best evidence that these are real. they are large enough to wrestle with a sperm whale. On at least three occasions in the 1930's they attacked a ship. While the squids got the worst of these encounters when they slid into the ship's propellers, the fact that they attacked at all shows that it is possible for these creatures to mistake a vessel for a whale. [/font]
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[font "Arial"]Perhaps the most astounding case reported, came in Japanese waters back in 1977. A fishing trawler netted a huge heavy catch. When the fishermen brought it aboard, they saw the badly decomposed body of a strange unidentified gigantic sea creature. Its long neck dangled when they hung it up. This was no figment of their imagination. This decomposing sea creature's body weighed in at 4000 pounds. Upon careful observation, it was definitely not a fish, nor a whale nor any other recognizable creature. The captain of the ZUIYO MARU took pictures , it measured 32 feet long! Flesh samples were taken along with full color pictures. When he returned to shore, the captain developed the pictures and brought the findings to marine scientists. After they scoured over the information and photos of the remains, the scientists were truly baffled. This creature was totally unknown and could not be classified[/font]
[font "Arial"][size 4]>> >> ''Sea Monster'' Seen in Western Canadian Waters >> 5/6/94 [/size]
>> VANCOUVER (Reuter) - A snorting, 20-foot-long >> ``sea monster'' was spotted by two university students >> off the shores of a Pacific coastal beach in Victoria, British >> Columbia, the pair said Friday.
>> Ryan Green, 18, a Simon Fraser University business student, >> described the rocky-faced creature as a twin-humped, >> round-bodied monster that swam across Telegraph Bay near >> suburban Saanich. It was about 49 feet from the rock Green and >> his friend, Damian Grant, were sitting on.
>> Green said he and the 19-year-old general arts student at >> the University of Victoria saw the heavy-breathing creature >> surface twice before it disappeared into the calm waters.
>> ``All of a sudden, this head comes up, like a whale with no >> spray. And then this hump, the size of an inner tube in >> diameter. And then another hump. It's nothing I've ever seen >> before,'' said Green.
>> He stressed that the puzzled pair was sober at the time of >> the sighting.
>> Ed Bousfield, a biology research associate with the Royal >> British Columbia Museum, said the reptile-like creature is >> probably a cadborosaurus, one of the last living dinosaurs
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