*20
/         "SEA SERPENTS"
/  SEA SERPENT STORIES HAVE BEEN STIMULATED BY THE SIGHT
/OF ODD, ELONGATED CREATURES SUPPOSEDLY SEEN BY IMPRES-
/SIONABLE OR FRIGHTENED MARINERS. A GREAT BOOST HAS BEEN
/GIVEN TO THESE YARNS BY THE CONSCIOUS EFFORTS OF
/PRANKSTERS TO "LIVEN THINGS UP" OR TO ATTRACT ATTENTION
/TO THE REPORTER OR THE COMMUNITY. WHO EVER HEARD OF LOCH
/NESS BEFORE THE MONSTER APPEARED THERE? THE HUMAN
/PREDILECTION FOR PRANKS IS A STRONG CHARACTERISTIC, AND
/CROPS UP IN ODD AND SURPRISING PLACES. EVEN SOME SCIENT-
/ISTS ARE NOT ABOVE "PULLING PRANKS" ON THEIR COLLEAGUES,
/OFTEN WITH LUDICROUS RESULTS. SEVERAL BOOKS AND A NUMBER
/OF MAGAZINE ARTICLES HAVE BEEN WRITTEN REPORTING VARIOUS
/ASPECTS OF THESE TALES OR ANALYZING THEM. THE INTENTIONAL
/AID GIVEN THE WILY SEA SERPENT BY SUCH PERSONS HELPS KEEP
/SOME OF THESE TALES BEFORE THE PUBLIC.
/  IN 1855 THE BUFFALO DAILY REPUBLIC REPORTED THE CAPTURE
/OF A GREAT SEA SERPENT IN SILVER LAKE, PERRY VILLAGE, NEW
/YORK. THE FIRST RECORDED EVENT OCCURRED ON A SUNDAY EARLY
/IN AUGUST.
/  "THE SNAKE CAME TO THE SURFACE DISPLAYING A LENGTH OF
/THIRTY FEET. ON MONDAY MORNING ALL WERE ON THE ALERT. AT
/NINE O^CLOCK HE APPEARED BETWEEN THE WHALEMAN^S BOAT AND
/THE SHORE: HE LAY QUIESCENT ON THE SURFACE, AND THE
/WHALEMAN^S BOAT MOVED SLOWLY TOWARDS HIM, MR. SMITH, OF
/COVINGTON, POINTING HIS PATENT HARPOON. ON REACHING
/WITHIN TEN FEET OF THE SNAKE, THE IRON WHISTLED IN THE
/AIR, AND HE DARTED OFF TOWARDS THE UPPER PART OF THE
/LAKE, ALMOST DRAGGING THE BOAT UNDER WATER BY HIS MOVE-
/MENT. LINE WAS GIVEN HIM, AND IN HALF AN HOUR HIS
/STRENGTH SEEMED MUCH EXHAUSTED. THE WHALEMAN THEN WENT
/ASHORE AND GRADUALLY HAULED THE LINE IN. WHEN WITHIN
/FIFTY FEET OF THE SHORE, THE SNAKE SHOWED RENEWED LIFE,
/AND WITH ONE DART NEARLY CARRIED OFF THE WHOLE LINE, BUT
/HE WAS DRAGGED SLOWLY ASHORE AMID EXCITEMENT UNEXAMPLED
/IN THE DISTRCIT. FOUR OR FIVE LADIES FAINTED ON SEEING
/THE SNAKE, WHO ALTHOUGH ASHORE, LASHED HIS BODY INTO
/TREMENDOUS FOLDS, AND THEN STRAIGHTENED HIMSELF IN AGONY
/WITH A NOISE THAT MADE THE EARTH TREMBLE. THE HARPOON HAD
/PENETRATED A THICK MUSCULAR PART, EIGHT FEET FROM HIS
/HEAD. HE IS FIFTY-NINE FEET EIGHT INCHES IN LENGTH, AND
/HAS A MOST DISGUSTING LOOK. A SLIME A QUARTER OF AN INCH
/THICK COVERS HIS BODY, AND IF REMOVED IS QUICKLY REPLACED
/BY EXUDATION. THE BODY IS VARIABLE IN SIZE. THE HEAD IS
/THE SIZE OF A FULL GROWN CALF."
/  THIS STORY WAS REPRINTED AND CIRCULATED SO WIDELY THAT
/THE SCIENTIST SPENCER F. BAIRD, SECRETARY OF THE
/SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION IN WASHINGTON, D.C, WAS FORCED TO
/WRITE TO THE EDITOR OF ONE FAMOUS ENGLISH JOURNAL, "YOU
/HAVE PROBABLY SINCE LEARNED THAT THE ACCOUNT IS AN
/UNMITIGATED HOAX, MANUFACTURED BY A NEWSPAPER-EDITOR
/WHILE ON SUMMER VACATION, FOR THE PURPOSE OF FURNISHING
/MATERIAL FOR HIS EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE."
/  THE SEA SERPENT STORIES ARE SO PREVALENT, HOWEVER, THAT
/THEY ARE OBVIOUSLY KEPT ALIVE ON SOMETHING MORE THAN MIS-
/GUIDED PRANKS. THERE ARE A NUMBER OF LARGE, ELONGATE
/ORGANISMS LIVING IN THE SEA, AND PROBABLY ANY OF THESE
/COULD STIMULATE AN EXCITED SEAMAN INTO BELIEVING HE HAD
/SEEN A SEA SERPENT - ESPECIALLY IF HE ALREADY WAS FAVOR-
/ABLY IMPRESSED ABOUT THEIR EXISTENCE. WHALES, SEALS,
/FLOATING SEAWEED, GIANT SQUIDS AND VARIOUS SPECIES OF
/ELONGATED FISH, INCLUDING SHARKS AND EELS, HAVE BEEN
/INVOLVED IN SEA SNAKE STORIES. THE LONG AND SLENDER
/OARFISH FITS THE SEA SERPENT DESCRIPTION MOST CLOSELY,
/AND IS UNQUESTIONABLY THE COMMONEST BASIS FOR THIS
/BELIEF. THIS FISH DEFINITELY ATTAINS A LENGTH OF MORE
/THAN 20 FEET, AND MAY REACH AN OCCASIONAL MAXIMUM OF MORE
/THAN 50 FEET. THE FAMOUS SEA SERPENT WASHED UP ON THE
/SHORE OR ORKNEY IN 1808 WAS APPARENTLY THIS FISH. WHEN
/THE AUSTRALIAN FISHERMAN KEITH MCRAE HOOKED ONTO A GIANT
/"SEA SERPENT" IN 1954 HIS COMPANIONS WERE AWESTRUCK, BUT
/A MUSEUM CURATOR IDENTIFIED HIS CATCH AS AN OARFISH,
/WHICH HE SAID SOMETIMES REACHED THE LENGTH OF 40 FEET
/IN THOSE WATERS.
/  THAT THE OARFISH IS NOT THE SOLE BASIS FOR THE SEA
/SERPENT BELIEF IS SHOWN BY A 1955 NEWSPAPER REPORT FROM
/VENICE, CALIFORNIA:
/  "HOPES OF OLD-TIMERS ALONG THIS SEACOAST THAT THEY HAD
/FOUND A REAL SEA SERPENT WERE BLASTED YESTERDAY BY A
/SCIENTIST. JOHN FITCH, STATE MARINE BIOLOGIST, IDENTIFIED
/A 16-FOOT "WHATSIT" AS A HARMLESS BASKING SHARK, FAIRLY
/RARE IN THESE WATERS. THE SHARK, WEIGHING APPROXIMATELY
/800 POUNDS, HAD BEEN WASHED ASHORE."
/  SOME DIE-HARDS ASK, "HOW CAN THE SCIENTISTS BE SO SURE
/THERE ARE NO UNDISCOVERED ODD CREATURES AT THE BOTTOM OF
/THE SEA, PERHAPS REAL GIANT SEA SERPENTS?" THESE INDIV-
/IDUALS CITE THE RECENT DISCOVERY OF LATIMERIA, THE
/PRIMITIVE COELOCANTH OR LOBE-FINNED FISH, AS AN INDICAT-
/ION THAT THERE ARE STILL MANY UNDISCOVERED PECULIAR
/CREATURES IN THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA. SCIENTISTS RECOGNIZE
/THE FACT THAT NEW SPECIES ARE AWAITING DISCOVERY IN THE
/DEPTHS OF THE OCEAN, JUST AS THEY ARE IN REMOTE AREAS OF
/THE EARTH. HOWEVER, THE SCIENTISTS HAVE LONG KNOWN THE
/BASIC LINES OF ANIMAL EVOLUTION AND THEY KNOW SOMETHING
/OF THE LIMITS OF ANIMAL STRUCTURAL MODIFICATIONS. ALL OF
/THE NEW SPECIES DISCOVERED IN THE PAST CENTURY HAVE BEEN
/FORMS THAT BELONGED TO ONE OR ANOTHER OF THE LONG-KNOWN
/MAJOR ANIMAL GROUPS. ALL LIVING REPTILES BREATHE BY MEANS
/OF LUNGS. NO REPTILE COULD LIVE UNDISCOVERED IN THE GREAT
/DEPTHS OF THE OCEAN BECAUSE IT WOULD HAVE TO COME TO THE
/SURFACE TO GET OXYGEN. VERTICAL MOVEMENT FROM THE SURFACE
/OF THE OCEAN TO THE GREATEST DEPTHS EXPOSES AN ANIMAL TO
/TERRIFIC ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES, AND NO ANIMAL IS ADAPTED
/TO SURVIVE AT ALL DEPTHS. AIR-BREATHERS ARE ESSENTIALLY
/SURFACE-DWELLERS OR INHABITANTS OF RELATIVELY SHALLOW
/WATERS. ANY TRUE SEA SERPENTS WOULD THUS OCCUR WHERE MAN
/WOULD BE FAMILIAR WITH THEM. ALSO, IF THEY WERE AS COMMON
/AS THE MANY REPORTS WOULD INDICATE, SCIENTISTS LONG SINCE
/WOULD HAVE HAD A SPECIMEN FOR STUDY.
/  FROM THE SCIENTIFIC STANDPOINT, THE TROUBLE WITH THE
/SEA SERPENT STORIES IS THAT THERE REALLY ARE SEA SNAKES.
/YES, THERE ARE TRUE REPTILIAN SERPENTS THAT DWELL IN THE
/SEAS. HOWEVER, THE REAL SEA SNAKES ARE ALL SMALL IN COM-
/PARISON WITH THEIR LEGENDARY COUNTERPARTS, OR EVEN WITH
/MANY OTHER SNAKES. WHAT THEY LACK IN SIZE SOME MAKE UP
/FOR IN THEIR VENOM. THERE ARE THIRTY OR MORE SPECIES, OR
/KINDS, OF SEA SNAKES KNOWN TODAY, BELONGING TO ONE
/FAMILY, THE HYDROPHIIDAE. ALL ARE VENOMOUS, AND ALL ARE
/FOUND IN THE WARM WATERS OF THE PACIFIC AND INDIAN
/OCEANS. NONE IS KNOWN FROM THE ATLANTIC, ALTHOUGH SOME
/SERPENTINE VAGABOND MAY SOMEDAY COME WANDERING THROUGH
/THE PANAMA CANAL. TRUE SEA SNAKES RANGE IN SIZE FROM TWO
/OR THREE FEET TO A MAXIMUM OF TEN OR TWELVE, BUT MOST OF
/THE SPECIES ARE SO SMALL THAT FISHERMEN BELIEVE THEM TO
/BE HARMLESS. MANY OF THE SNAKES LIVE IN SHALLOW SEAS OR
/ESTUARIES. THEY RARELY COME ASHORE, AND FREQUENTLY ARE
/FOUND IN LARGE AGGREGATIONS. DESPITE THE EXISTENCE OF
/TRULY MARINE SERPENTS, THEY LEND NO SUPPORT TO THE
/FABULOUS LEGENDS OF GIANT SEA SNAKES.