Cryptozoology Thread

[Nautipus]

I got this idea from reading the dragons! thread.
Who thinks that other mythical creatures could have existed? Things like the Kraken, hydra, anything at all that you can think of.

[Earniel]

The architeutis and the (whatisnameagain) mesonychiteutis (or something similar I never can remember)), two species of giant (we're talking really giant here) squid do definitely come close to Kraken-hood. Fascinating critters.

[Nautipus]

I'm actually a semi-expert on those two animals. Many people dont know this, but the Kraken was sometimes described as a giant lobster or crab as well.
Though, architeuthis and mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni(the only known species of collosal squid) do fit the bill of the generic Kraken. But their have been reports out of the Indian ocean(during the time of English dominance) of gigantic, squid-like creatures ramming or sinking boats there, especially in the bay of bengal.
Also, there was what looked like a six-ton octopus carcass that washed ashore in florida, it even had the stumps of tentacles attached to it. It was never really decided what it was but there are photographs....unmuseum.mus.pa.us/oct.jpg, there should be one there, they even tried to photograph one in the wild, and they did photograph something, they just dont know what.
There are also tales coming out of Bermuda of something dragging ships along by their anchors or crab-trap (which Octopus dolfeini has been known to do)

[GrayMouser]

Giant squids would be among the more plausible, as would sea serpents, based either on moasour type reptiles, or earlier whales such as Basilosaurus (check the name!).

Land animals seem to be more based on the Chimera/griffin/winged horse type, mixtures rather than independent creations. Unlikely unless Archimedes was running a gene-splicing shop out back.

[Nautipus]

There actually was a mass sighting of a sea serpent in Gloucester, which is in New England somewhere, at around 1817. It is described as being around fortyfive to fifty feet in length, black, with the head of a horse, and a sting that is about 4 feet long. That's not your typical Basilosaurus, though it does have similarities, especially the head. There have also been sightings on the west coust of America, they were described as moving in a corkscrew motion, there is actual video of them moving through the water, if I find it online I'll post it.

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Nautipus

Also, there was what looked like a six-ton octopus carcass that washed ashore in florida, it even had the stumps of tentacles attached to it.

Giant octopus? That's new to me, I was only aware of giant squid. I suppose that's just a language issue, in Dutch octopus is only used (to my knowledge) for the eight-tentacled with the round body, and squid for the group with elongated bodies and two long specific catch-arms.

Of course, as long as these critters hide in the very deep, encounters or evidence will be rare. But mosasaurians or basilosaurs would have more difficulty hiding there as long as the molluscs. If they still exist, they should be more noticable.

[Nautipus]

Yep, it was an octopus, eight arms, round body and everything.

That's true about the basilosaurs and mososaurs, but what if it's simply a case of mistaken identity? I'm not argueing this in either direction, just throwing some possibilities out there, but it could be a giant eel of some kind. Conger eels are somewhat snakelike, so it could be that there is a large, deepwater specie that is heretofor undiscovered.

But there is lots of evidence for the giant octopus(eight arms), nothing irefutable, but some compelling evidence. The octopus that washed ashore in Florida was thought by one scientist to be a sperm whale's head, but it had no blowhole, bones, or lower jaw, but it did have what appeared to be a central cavity in between the "arms" that could have housed the beak. There was a report of a sixty-foot Great Pacific Octopus found near Alaska, but that wasnt substantiated.

[Nautipus]

I found something pretty neat last year. So for anyone who's wondering, yes a sperm whale has been killed by a squid. The report is rather vague and I cant seem to find it again, but once I do, I'll be sure to put it here, so dont get me up the tailpipe about not having sources, please .
Anyway, the whale was washed up (somewhere) and hadsucker marks that measured one foot in diameter etched into its skin. To put that in perspective, Mesonychoteuthis' suckers are less than half that size in the known specimens. The squid that possesed these suction discks would have arms that were at least...2.5 feet wide, If it was a grasping arm, rather than a tentacle. The whale hade been shredded and(from what I can remember) eviscerated. That is common among cephalopods which eat fish with especially tough or scaly skin, such as sharks. They cut through the skin and eat the inards, the part that is most nutritious. they obviously cant know that it's the most nutritious part, but it's the easiest to eat. The same applies to the whale carcass, which was freshley dead.

[Mari]

I thought that was my thing. People always imply (but never say mind you) that I talk too much.

[Nautipus]

Well, seeing as I've only communicated with you on the internet, I can neither confirm nor deny these accusations. But you seem to type moderately (in terms of volume) so I've no complaint.

[Mari]

Wahaha! LOL! You should talk to me on MSN. Here I am restraining myself, because it would be rude and because I make stupid remarks and unlike with MSN, what you say will be visible for a long time, for a lot of people. Besides, I'm weird and I'm trying not to let it show

[Nautipus]

Originally Posted by Mari

Wahaha! LOL! You should talk to me on MSN. Here I am restraining myself, because it would be rude and because I make stupid remarks and unlike with MSN, what you say will be visible for a long time, for a lot of people. Besides, I'm weird and I'm trying not to let it show

Good God, girl, just let it out! We're all wierd and we know it.
*looks at rest of 'moot*
Dont you guys look at me like that, you know it's true!!
*turns back to Mari*
See what I mean?

[Mari]

No seriously, I don't get myself most of the time, so it wouldn't be fair to inflict it on you. Allthough it might be interesting to watch y'all try to make sense of what I'm trying to say... *ponders over it (over? about? whatever...)*

[Nautipus]

Do it, I'm bored anyway, hector's no fun right now.

[Mari]

Is he still around then? Wonder what kind of mischief he's up to now *looks suspiciously over her shoulder*
Perhaps we should move this somewhere else by the way?

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

I think you're safe. If you mention hector at least once every 3 posts, you're talking about a mythical creature.

[Mari]

Haha, if we're not carefull messages and rumors will start to appear saying they saw something resembling a 'Hector' with wide-ranging descriptions and faked posts...

[Mari]

Ah, that's fortunate then. But as I imagine America, there are a lot of Christians there and many Christians don't believe in the evolution theory, sooo...
I don't know what I believe either. I can't say I care either way, since we are here now.

[Nautipus]

Too there are Christians who believe that God fasilitated evolution, and it was a tool he used to put us where we are. It is easy to look at the genetic makeup of alot of primates and see that they are very close to our own. There was even a case in Washington State (IIRC) where they believed a Sasquatch had left blood and fur on a doorstep of an unfinished house because there were screws that were exposed and a huge "footprint" in blood on it. They are currently sequencing the gene code as best they can, but they already say that the blood is only different to human DNA in one sequence. That alone rules out human possibilities, unless it was from a huge, genetically mutated man.

[strider8]

Have you heard about the footprints that have been found:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/200712...b7e5c6f_1.html