Monday, July 14, 2014

Sanibel Sea Serpent

I just recently became aware of a YouTube video of an alleged sea serpent in the waters off Sanibel Island. The people who saw the creature described it as having a head which "resembled a sea otter" and a body which "looked like a giant 20 foot plus snake".

Nothing shown in the video remotely looks like what they have described, and to everyone's great misfortune it appears the couple who video-recorded the thing stopped recording after only 54 seconds. In truth, the dark rotund thing whose back appears briefly breaking the water looks to me like a manatee or young whale. Cool, but relatively ordinary. (And for Heaven's sake, people, stop calling it "the Loch Ness Monster". The Loch Ness Monster is in Loch Ness.)

But as Jay Cooney points out, Scott Marlowe's The Cryptid Creatures of Florida tells anecdotes about similar sounding sea serpents with mammalian heads:

"Two navy men stationed at the Jacksonville Naval Air Station reportedly observed a long-necked animal with 'antennae' atop a head similar to that of a dog. Two fishermen reported a similar animal on a separate occasion, reflecting some of the 'cadborosaurus' reports from British Columbia... Alleged Florida 'sea monster' footage taken by Gene Sowerwine caused much excitement when it was revealed on an episode of MonsterQuest in 2007, but it was later found to show a manatee with an injured tail and a wayward bearded seal."

Then, too, let's remember the 1901 report of an Everglades sea monster said to have a head like a cross between a deer and a catfish. But until someone shows me a specimen of something, I'm not buying any of it.

40 comments:

  1. It's not even a manatee. And sure as hell not a young whale either.

    Everyone should know what those animals are, this animal was dark coloured on the back, and white on the underside. Let alone, this animal darted from the shallows in an ambush, and attacked a baby manatee(which predators do). This animal isn't acting and behaving like a manatee or whale, and it js even faster than those two animals.

    Your basically calling the people who saw them delusional and idiots, by saying it looks like a manatee or young whale to you.

    https://youtu.be/O8lqeHUPWus

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    1. Whatever the couple saw, it isn’t in their video. No one is calling anyone delusional or idiots. I think they filmed something that startled them because it was exotic behavior. I was skeptical of commenters who said it was a manatee until I looked up some videos of how manatees can look when they are swimming fast, when they are chasing each other, etc. They look exactly like what we see in the video. It was filmed in Sanibel Island, so we know there are manatees around.

      Eyewitness testimony is problematic for many reasons, which is why more objective evidence like a video is usually better evidence. The behavior in the video is 100% consistent with manatees cavorting and capering in the lovely waters of Sanibel.

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    2. PS: That said, if I was on that boat with them, I’d have been a bit scared, too. We’ve all looked at the video many times, I’m sure, but seeing it close to your boat in person must have been unsettling.

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    3. PPS: I didn’t know this video and the couple had appeared on a Travel Channel episode about the paranormal—I think that says everything we need to know about them and the video, doesn’t it?

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    4. What is seen in the camera isn't all that what was eye witnessed. No one can disprove what was witness.

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  2. The same people that are calling This a manatee call the other 1 A manatee with the Trident tail. Even though H flute had a bony ridge going down it very Unlike a manatee All 3 perfect flukes had a bony ridge going rub down the middle. And the other one in Florida manatees don't have nostrils on the side of their head and its eyes are all wrong and in the wrong place I would like to set him alarm chair and coal everything amenity but you calling these people that were likely raised on the ocean liars Do I believe it's a secret are no but I believe it is some_bridge species because I'm surprised anyone Called it a manatee Take it from me and I'm an expert it is absolutely not A manatee either one of them the closest you have to amenity is the cover but it's not even right Into the armchair detectives get out there in fun the creature and show it to be a manatee it's wrong to call these people liars that are raised on the ocean

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  3. Its a Snake serpent like animal or a large squid

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    1. I completely agree I think it is a serpent of some kind

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    2. It’s a green anaconda! I recognize the markings of that particular snake in this video. It’s probably as big as it is because it has no real predators in Florida or anywhere.

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    3. No it is not ...it has clawed fins...the network threatened this man told him to take it down...there is more footage ...thr government dies not want you to know about excint creatures because they are not millions of years old...the dinosaurs are in the bible ...so folks this is not a manatee stop being stupid ...stop causing confusion because you refuse to know and believe what you saw...or seen the network threatened him...I would air every bit of it

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  4. It attacked and pulled manatee under

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    1. That's exactly what it shows - a very large Green Anaconda ambushing a Manatee whose size cannot be determined.

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  5. Could it be a Great White? Due to global warming many animals are moving in areas they don't frequently go. For example, I live in Louisiana and it was recently found that Great White Sharks have been seen in the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana waters. "Torpedo shaped, dark on the top and white on the bottom" A Manatee would be a great food source...…??

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  6. Nope. Manatees. They are actually fast and powerful swimmers.

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  7. What the couple discribed was a sea serpant 30 foot long with a baby manatee wrapped in a coil. I believe them. I've seen a 20+'sea serpant myself, with a head like a horse and with an olive green body color.

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  8. You're trying to say that what they are describing isn't in the video but what you are describing isn't at all in the video either. It's clear that there's some sort of snake like creature wrapped around another animal. How do you not see the dark grayish creature coilled around a animal helpless animal?? Your logic is way more flawed and incredible even more so than when they described.

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    1. I agree that's what I see in video,I also live in the area and in the gulf waters here swimming, on boats and jet skis my whole life and I've never seen anything like that.ive seen and swam with manatees since a child and it doesn't remind me of manatees.I've seen another guy in the area lives on water that has video of something big & serpant like I'll try and find links but seeing these videos I dont believe they are faked.But now going into the water, it's in the back of my mind.

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  9. I see a fairly long cylindrical-ish body (seems longer than any manatee I've seen) coiling around what appears to be a separate animal in a serpent-like manner. I see a not perfectly cylindrical body...it's an circular arc about 2/3rds of the body, and the lighter underside is still arc-like but perhaps a bit "squashed" down.
    Also keep in mind many animals change colors at different time in their lifecycles and as seasons change.

    I've a couple of questions that go toward credibility:

    #1)Why is the video provided on Youtube at a maximum of ONLY 240p resolution? It's an quite old phone that by default would record at such a low resolution (however, one can intentionally change one's phone settings to record at lower resolutions for various reasons; E.G. to save space).

    #2) Also there doesn't appear to be any attempt to provide an enhanced version of the video. The video could be much improved. Why...Are details being kept from us?

    jGecko

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  10. In the 80's I visited Ft Myers in the winter and went to the power plant to watch the manatees. All the sudden a large sea monster started to surface. Only its curved back came up out of the water and this was about 20-30 feet long and it had regular spaced stand-up plates on its back like a stegosaurus. A woman was standing right beside me and we both freaked out. I looked at her and said what the hell was that, at about the same time she said the same thing to me. I wish I had been filming at that time and I also wish I had asked that woman for her name and phone number as a witness.

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  11. you're dumb... that's clearly a giant snake in that video. You can clearly see the coils of the snake.. it looks like an Anaconda

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    1. Yes! I agree with you! I too also believe it was a huge snake. I mean come on, it’s like fish, the larger the body of water, the larger they grow. I’ve been in the Gulf of Mexico in Florida. Seen sharks, whales, manatee's, stingrays, etc. this has a prominent coil. Grew up on a ranch watching snakes attack our animals, they coil around their prey. Florida has seen more and more snakes come from people shipping them for, “pets”. Then the pets get too big & they let em loose in the wild. I still remember that snake that was caught in South America. It measured like 33ft & was over 800lbs. We truly do not know what is all in the waters. Over 80% of the bodies of water have not been explored. When that huge tsunami hit Japan, they had hundreds upon hundreds of species, that have never seen before, wash ashore & also some species only found there washed up in American. Anything is possible. I love knowing that anything is possible in this world. Sorry, ima huge nerd & love to learn about all of this! Lol

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    2. I agree and after Andrew hit Florida a lot of the breeders of those things due the pet industry got loose and now Florida is hunting large constrictors, iguanas and monitors. Because they are breeding, getting extremely large and are evasive. I’m positive about the identity from managing two pet stores that specialized in reptiles. Particularly snakes of every kind that can be sold with out a wildlife handler's license. It is in my opinion a green anaconda and a very large one at that! Kinda scary that a snake that large is now hunting manatees for food! Which means humans can also be consumed.. 😳

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    3. Anacondas cannot live/hunt in saltwater.

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    4. No way. An Anaconda with the circumference of a 50ft tall tree would be 100ft long and ages old. It was either a giant squid or octopus

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  12. I have ben catching snakes my whole life and what they captured on that vidio is an insanely large restricting snake, you can clearly see it coil around another animal and prbably killed and swollowed it whole. I will never swim near manatee herds again , it obviously hunts them on a regular basis. And it probably swims back up in the everglades somewhere and digest its food for a couple months or so and hunts again.and i bet it eats its share of alagators also. If it ripped the animal apart ,there would be blood every were. And how thick that thing was, is just crazy. Just to let you no i see what you captured on the vidio and its crazy, how thick it was , it has to be atleast 30' long , and to that that dude that thinks thats manatee'sswimming and playing, tell that to that manatee thats dead

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    1. you just took a ridiculous assumption, ran with it, and created a whole reality based on going from assumption to assumption.

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    2. Swallowed a manatee whole? Jesus people are stupid

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  13. This absolutely was not a Whale or Manatee ! This was some kind of serpent I believe, but who knows for sure. But to call this couple who have spent there entire life in Florida and around the sea idiots is mind boggling. If you freeze the video and play it frame by frame you can see it is definitely not a whale or manatee . So you really need to do a follow up and apologize immediately.

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  14. honestly i just saw this video and to me and the description sounds and looks like a giant octopus. there are giant squids but i wonder if it could be a very large octopus

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  15. It’s some kind of large snake like creature don’t watch the video on a phone and say it’s a common whale because you can’t see any detail if you see it on a big screen you can clearly see it looks like a giant snake wrapping itself around it’s prey

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  16. I do not see clearly what this animal is but I have become aware of an animal feeding habit neodinosaur that took heads in the headless valley of nahanni river or when it was "The beast of gevaudan" it was also called "Ahuizotl" Alaskans had another name for it this is what took the heads of the seals Jeremy Wade never solved the gun shot he alluded to were talon stab marks it is the root of all vampire lure taking heads drinking guts and seemed immortal to helpess people that could not kill it with musket or swords until someone made a silver bullet I also believe it's responsible for some of the jack the ripper murders but not all because humans can be violent and basic as animals them selfs what I call emotional animals all vampires are posers take my energy please it will work better then a witch fighting this animal with magic a community would have to come together to fight animal of these sizes and many men would still die it just looked like a snake because most of it is under water just like icebergs it has never been identified keeping its head burried until it ambushes and when it eats in the dark rain or fog if it eats all manitees it will come out of the water for people witch the female already dose when it nests on land

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  17. I also believe it's responsible for the headless fishermen in the sea of Japan I could be proven right if anyone finds a green puddle on boat of any of the headless fishermen because that is the poop and pee mixture of a cold blooded animal I've read a lot of biologist comments about this animal it's tracks crime scenes many investigations have started into many protected and endangered species but not one has made a simple statement even with it's footprint in front of them and they are all biologist unsettled and angery a little scared what can decapitate all these seals in front of them with fresh blood that hasn't even clotted yet they still blame machines guns and people they still don't have a clue yet because saying it's a dinosaur might end their career if a biologist is blamed for murder next hes going to jail without an answer

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  18. Large, constricting snake; most likely unknown species.

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  19. I was watching this on tv and decided to look online . ITS NOT A MANATEE! 🙄 Watching it paused on a large tv you can CLEARLY see coils and black on top / white on the bottom. Anyone looking at a phone screen and thinking they know the answer is ridiculous. Snake probably? But a manatee ? Whoever said that without even researching a LITTLE is the idiot

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  20. Many aquatic predators have a dark colored skin pattern on top and a light skin pattern on bottom to help camouflage it when hunting. This allows it to blend in with it's environment dark when looking down on it toward the darkness of the ocean, light when looking up toward the sun (i.e. Great White).

    It is obvious this is a large constricting snake that is unknown.

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  21. Folks, it's a giant squid. They've been becoming more common with climate change. They're having to hunt closer to the surface because the delicate menu they eat normally is diminishing

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  22. See? Giant squid https://youtu.be/DXUzj7SDzKw?si=pzLzdiK0LBIF5yi1

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