From merfolk to megalodons, sea serpents to Scylla, scary sea creatures have long haunted fiction and film… but do some of them actually haunt our sea beds, too? Let’s meet a few and find out… are they FISH or FAIRYTALE?
Kraken
The Kraken is reported to be a huge (and we really mean HUGE) octopussy creature, that lurked off the coast of Norway and Greenland, sinking entire ships with a single swipe of a tentacle. The Kraken is taken from Norse mythology and its inspiration was probably the giant squid that lived in these waters and sometimes grew up to 13 metres in length. That’s quite a calamari dinner. So. Inspired by actual fish but ultimately fairytale, probably.
Sea Serpents
These slithery sea-going beasts have appeared on maps and in fiction since the dawn of time, with the most well-known, Leviathan, appearing in the Hebrew Bible. But is there any truth in the myth? Could there really be giant snakes hiding in dark waters? Well, probably not, but we do know that oarfish can grow up to eight metres, with a face like a horse and a bright red crest all the way down its body. Sounds like a sea monster to us. Fish, for sure.
Giant killer sharks
Sharks are pretty scary for sure, and pretty amazing, too. But where fish end and fiction begins is sometimes hard to tell. Clearly sharks are real but watch and of the ‘Meg’ or ‘Shark Attack’ films and you’d think giant shark, the size of your house were lurking around every pier just waiting to pounce. The inspiration behind these giant shark films is the Megalodon, a type of extinct mackerel shark that existed millions of years ago. Estimated to have grown to up to 23 metres, even its teeth can be 18cm long. No wonder ‘megalodon’ means ‘big tooth’. We’re voting ‘fish’ on this one.
Mermaids (and mermen)
Half folk, half fish, these sirens of the sea were said to lure sailors to their death. Now, you’d think that there was little debate about how real merfolk actually are, but then ‘real mermaids’ began to turn up in the cabinets of 18th-century collectors of curios. Fishy, no? Well, quite fishy as it turns out but probably not real. They turned out to be the work of cryptozoologists who stitched together monkeys’ torsos and fish tails to make the sort of seaside souvenirs that send a chill through one’s spine. Fairytale. Thankfully.
Kelpies
These equine shapeshifters live in Scottish lochs and rivers and take the form of huge, dark horses with manes wet from the waters. They’re said to lure children in to drown them, or shape-shift into young men to seduce women and lure them to their deaths, eviscerating them so that only their guts make it back to land. Brutal stuff. The truth is probably less dramatic; the Kelpies were simply a good story to stop kids straying too close to the water… and to stop young women having their heads turned by young men in swimming trunks.
In our October issue, we meet the real monster hunters, including a Nessie investigator and those who have tracked Bigfoot. Buy this month's The Simple Things -buy, download or subscribe
