The ocean covers 71% of Earth's surface and remains 95% unexplored. Cryptid sea creatures — from the classic sea serpent to the modern giant squid (confirmed 2004) — represent plausible unknowns in an environment we have barely mapped. New species of deep-sea megafauna are still being discovered.
Sea serpent reports date to ancient maritime cultures — the Norse Kraken, the Scottish Loch Ness Monster, the Japanese Ryūjin, and the Leviathan of the Hebrew Bible all describe enormous creatures of the deep. For centuries, sailors' accounts were dismissed as myth until the giant squid — described for centuries as the Kraken — was photographed alive in the wild for the first time in 2004.
The Loch Ness Monster has been reported since 565 AD, when St. Columba allegedly encountered it in the River Ness. The famous 1934 "Surgeon's Photograph" was later revealed as a hoax, but thousands of sightings over 1,500 years cannot be explained by a single photograph. Sonar surveys of Loch Ness have produced large unidentified targets at depths the creature would need to inhabit.
The coelacanth — a fish believed extinct for 65 million years — was discovered alive in 1938. The megamouth shark was unknown to science until 1976. These confirmed discoveries support the possibility that large unknown species persist in the deep ocean.
Zuiyo Maru carcass
A Japanese fishing trawler hauled up a decomposed carcass with a long neck, small head, and four flippers. Japanese scientists examined samples before the crew returned it to sea. Some identified it as a decomposed basking shark; others noted features inconsistent with known species.
Operation Deepscan
24 boats with sonar equipment swept Loch Ness simultaneously. Three sonar contacts were recorded at depths of 180 feet — larger than any known fish in the loch.
Champ sonar contact
Researchers using hydrophones recorded a bio-sonar signal in Lake Champlain inconsistent with any known animal in the lake. The signal resembled the echolocation pattern of a beluga whale, thousands of miles from its range.
I work timber and have been in these woods for 22 years. Whatever I saw Tuesday morning was not a bear. It crossed the road upright, never broke stride, covered about 18 feet in three steps. Dark reddish-brown, heavily built through the shoulders. The head sat directly on the shoulders with no visible neck. My dog — who barks at everything — pressed herself flat against the seat and didn't make a sound. The road was muddy; I stopped and found a track 16 inches long with a clear mid-tarsal break. I made a plaster cast. This is the third encounter I've had in this drainage over 15 years but this was by far the closest.
I know how this sounds. I was on I-77 near Point Pleasant around 9 PM. A massive dark shape began circling low over my car — I could see its wingspan blocking out streetlights as it passed. Humanoid shape, no feathers, dark leathery wings. But the eyes were what I can't shake: two bright red points that seemed to glow from inside. It kept pace with my car for almost two miles before banking away toward the river. I'm not from here but a local mechanic at the gas station I stopped at immediately said "you saw the Mothman, didn't you." I didn't know what that was at the time. Now I've done the reading. I believe him.
We were kayaking near Urquhart Castle when a large hump surfaced about 40 metres ahead. I got three photos before it submerged. The shape does not match any known animal.