Have we finally figured out the mystery of Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster? Depends on who you ask …
The Mirror reports that Nessie isn’t a gigantic, ancient monster at all — but an eel. The team of New Zealand researchers say they have ruled out the possibility of a gigantic life form swimming around the lake thanks to research they began in 2019.
Basically, they claim to have documented all creatures inhabiting the famous lake by collecting DNA samples. They say nothing in the results told them, “Oh, hey, there’s a plesiosaurus here.”
Professor Neil Gemmell, who’s a geneticist from the University of Otago, previously said, “We can’t find any evidence of a creature that’s remotely related to that in our environmental-DNA sequence data.”
So, what did people who claimed to have spotted Nessie actually see?
Apparently, the research found that the lake is home to giant eels, which are what scientists think have been causing all these Nessie sightings.
“There is a very significant amount of eel DNA. Eels are very plentiful in Loch Ness, with eel DNA found at pretty much every location sampled — there are a lot of them,” Gemmell said. “Therefore we can’t discount the possibility that what people see and believe is the Loch Ness Monster might be a giant eel.”
The legend of Nessie has haunted Loch Ness for about 1,500 years and has drawn many spectators hoping to catch sight of the elusive beast. How embarrassing to think people have been hoping to catch a glimpse of an eel for all this time …