The Mysterious Sea Monk

The Sea Monk was a sea monster found off the coast of Denmark, most notably in 1546. It was said to be a "fish" that looked superficially like a monk (Historian William M. Johnson has noted that the sea monk bears a striking resemblance to Saint Francis of Assisi).

According to Conrad Gesner, a sea monk was caught off Norway in a troubled sea, and one was found in the Firth of Fourth. In Stow's 'Annales', he describes the capture of one such creature: "A.D. 1187. Neere unto Orforde in Suffolke, certaine Fishers of the sea tooke in their nettes a Fish having the shape of a man in all pointes, which Fish was kept by Barlemew de Glanville, Custos of the castle of Orforde, in the same castle, by the space of six monthes, and more, for a wonder: He spake not a word. All manner of meates he gladly did eate, but more greedilie raw fishe, after he had crushed out all the moisture. Oftentimes he was brought to the Church where he showed no tokens of adoration. At length, when he was not well looked to, he stale away to the sea and never after appeared."

Two naturalists, Rondelet and Pierre Belon, produced descriptions of animals they termed the Sea Monk, or monk-fish. Centuries later, a very talented naturalist, Japetus Steenstrup, gave a presentation in which he compared Rondelet's illustration and Belon's illustration to the likeness of a squid captured in 1853. He also took into consideration a 16th-century description of the sea monk by Conrad Gesner. Steenstrup made an amazing deduction: "Could we, given these bits of information of how the Monk was conceived at that time, come so near to it that we could recognize to which of nature's creatures it should most probably be assigned? The Sea Monk is firstly a cephalopod." - www.strangescience.net

Rondelet's illustration (on the left) and Belon's illustration (on the right)

In his epic poem 'La Sepmaine; ou, Creation du monde', the poet Guillaume du Bartas referenced the 16th century sea monk sightings as part of a poetic observation that all things on land and in the air had an equivalent in the sea:

"Seas have (as well as skies) Sun, Moon, and Stars;
(As well as ayre) Swallows, and Rooks, and Stares;
(As well as earth) Vines, Roses, Nettles, Millions,
Pinks, Gilliflowers, Mushrooms, and many millions
of other Plants lants (more rare and strange than these)
As very fishes living in the Seas.
And also Rams, Calfs, Horses, Hares, and Hogs,
Wolves, Lions, Urchins, Elephants and Dogs,
Yea, Men and Mayds; and (which I more admire)
The mytred Bishop and the cowled Fryer;
Whereof, examples, (but a few years since)
Were shew'n the Norways, and Polonian Prince."

Sometime during the period 1545–1550, the Danish king, Christian III, sent to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (then in Spain) drawings of a strange animal that had been caught in the Øresund, the strait between the island of Sjælland (Denmark) and Sweden. Described as a sea monk, this strange creature aroused the interest of the whole of Europe. Indeed such was its appeal to the Emperor that one chronicler claimed “as a result...King Christian was included in an alliance formed in the year 1550 between the Emperor and the Scots”.

Architeuthis dux, Giant Squid

The animal had “a human head and face, resembling in appearance the men with shorn heads, whom we call monks because of their solitary life; but the appearance of its lower parts, bearing a coating of scales, barely indicated the torn and severed limbs and joints of the human body. At the order of the king this abominable creature was immediately buried in the ground, in order that it should not, as the new and unusual generally does, provide a fertile subject for offensive talk.”

The Sea Bishop or bishop-fish was another type of sea monster reported in the 16th century. According to legend, it was taken to the King of Poland, who wished to keep it. It was also shown to a group of Catholic bishops, to whom the bishop-fish gestured, appealing to be released. They granted its wish, at which point it made the sign of the cross and disappeared into the sea. It was also described and pictured in Conrad Gesner's 'Historiae animalium'.

In 1855, Steenstrup, who had previously described the stranding of giant squid along the shores of the northern Atlantic, suggested the Øresund sea monk was a giant squid. So convinced was he of his argument, that he gave his unknown squid the binomial name Architeuthis monachus. The validity of this species designation is however open to question as a giant squid was never formally described under this name.

Steenstrup’s arguments for Architeuthis as the sea monk were as follows:

1. The general body form of the sea monk was similar to a squid with the rear of the mantle as the head, the fins representing the chasuble, the entrance to the mantle cavity representing the lower edge of the vestment and with the circle of arms representing the tail fin of the sea monk. The arms of the monk are the tentacles of the squid wrapped underneath the body with just the clubs visible in just the right position to be taken as human arms.

2. The black coloration of the head was caused by the presence of ink sacs underneath the skin.

3. The monkfish had red and black spots as does a squid.

4. The animal was scaleless (although this in fact contradicts at least two of the written accounts and all of the illustrations). The scales were, in Steenstrup’s view, misinterpretations of the coloration of the animal. The basis for this argument was Rondelet’s contention that the animal was scaleless. Most squid (including Architeuthis) are scaleless although one family Lepidoteuthidae is scaled.

5. The sea monk lived for three days. Steenstrup felt this was perfectly in keeping with squid which on “a moist beach or in moist air...could well live outside the water for such a period”.

6. The monk produced no sounds except deep expirations or sighs.

Thus the sea monk was explained as a giant squid, an explanation that has been generally accepted. That Steenstrup was right to believe giant squid were the explanation for certain monsters that were washed up on the coast of Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries cannot be doubted, but he may have been a little overenthusiastic in implicating Architeuthis as the prime suspect for the sea monk.

Large North Sea Monkfish

The giant squid theory was popularized by writer Richard Ellis in 'The Search for the Giant Squid'. Cryptozoologist Bernard Heuvelmans believed the report was based on the discovery of an errant walrus. More recently, it has been suggested that it was an angel shark Squatina squatina, which is commonly called monkfish in English or munk in Norwegian. Other suggested suspects for the sea monk include a grey seal, a hooded seal or a monk seal.

Squatina squatina, Angel Shark

Sources:
www.strangescience.net
Ellis, Richard - 'The Search for the Giant Squid' - 1998
www.eaudrey.com
www.unexplained-mysteries.com
www.creem.st-and.ac.uk
Paxton, C.G.M. & Holland, R. - 'Was Steenstrup right? A new interpretation of the 16th century sea monk of the Øresund' - 2005
www.zmuc.dk
marinebio.org
Ellis, R. - 'The Search for the Giant Squid' - 1998

Bobo: Enigma of Monterey Bay

Mr. E.J. Lear gave an account about an unknown sea creature to the Santa Cruz Sentinel in 1925:

"I was driving a team toward Capitola, when suddenly I was attracted by some young sea lions not far out. They were lined up and several large lions were swimming back and forth in front of them. Much farther out I saw the water being churned to foam and thrown high up in the air. It was shiny and I took it for a big fish. A dozen or more lions were battling it, and every once in a while all would raise out of the water. It looked to me as though all the sea lions were attacking it beneath as the monster came out of the water several times. In telling of the battle of that night I estimated its length at 30 feet.

"The battle continued as long as I could see it from the road. I was driving toward Capitola with a load of sand. I have not seen the monster on the beach, but it may have been that which I saw."

A few days later the body of a strange creature was discovered by Charles Moore on the shore in the very same area that Mr. Lear saw the battle. The body was examined by a naturalist, E. L. Wallace who said "My examination of the monster was quite thorough. I felt in its mouth and found it had no teeth. Its head is large and its neck fully twenty feet long. The body is weak and the tail is only three feet in length from the end of the backbone. These facts do away with the whale theory, as the backbone of a whale is far larger than any bone in this animal. Again, its tail is too weak for an animal of the deep and does away with that last version. With a bill like it possesses, it must have lived on herbage...I would call it a type of plesiosaurus."

"Later, Mr. Wallace offered the theory that the monster may have been preserved in a glacier for millions of years, finally being released by the gradual melting of ice, eventually ending up cast upon the shore in Monterey Bay."

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Bobo's Tale Resurfaces

It was a clear fall day, and the Pacific Ocean was as flat and clear as a giant mirror. From Captain Sal Colletto’s small salmon fishing boat, 10 miles off Moss Landing, the indentation of the Monterey Bay on the shore looked like a giant’s thumbprint as he headed back towards Point Pinos. After a day of luckless fishing in the waters of Santa Cruz, the Monterey fisherman was looking forward to getting home.

Suddenly, Colletto noticed something floating in the sea about a half-mile farther out. Thinking it might be a man bobbing in the ocean, he gunned the engine and headed out towards the object. When the captain got within 100 feet of the thing, he saw a creature with a head the size of a 50-gallon barrel. It was tapered to where a duck-like bill protruded from the massive bulging forehead.

Colletto started to think about how a pair of fishermen had disappeared recently without a trace. Maybe this sea monster had devoured them. Not wanting to join their ranks, he pushed his boat’s throttle all the way down and headed back towards the Monterey Peninsula. He decided that he would not tell anyone about what he had seen.

Sixteen years later, Colletto was traveling towards the fishing grounds off Half Moon Bay on his 45-foot boat, the Dante Alighieri. While the crew ate lunch in the galley below, Colletto and his brother-in-law swapped fishing stories as the craft headed northward. Eventually, his brother-in-law started talking about a strange sea creature he had spotted a few times at the edge of the deep Monterey submarine canyon. Colletto got the chills as his brother-in-law described how other fishermen had said the beast would only surface on calm, sunny days 24 hours before a strong northwest wind started to blow.

It was a windless day, and the water was smooth and silver as liquid mercury. As Colletto gazed towards the Santa Cruz Mountains, he observed something bobbing in the sea and his heart fluttered like a dying fish’s gills. He realized immediately that it was that strange creature.

“All hands on deck,” Colletto yelled to the crew. They poured out of the galley and stood on the bow of the boat, wondering what the commotion was all about.

“I want all you guys to see this,” he said as he slowly brought the boat closer to the beast. The captain then cut the motor, and the boat drifted within 50 feet of the object. The creature’s eyes were closed and it floated on the surface as if it were sunbathing or sleeping.

“It has the face of a monkey,” his cook squealed. “Let’s leave. This is a bad omen.”

“No, its face looks like that of an old man,” Colletto’s brother-in-law said.

The noise must have awakened the monster, and it slowly opened its eyes, which were as big and pink as grapefruits. The creature’s body was brown and almost as long as the boat. Its skin was wrinkled and sagged from its frame like ill-fitting clothing. Colletto thought to himself that this was a very old animal.

While the crew argued about what the animal looked like, the monster quietly slid underwater like an elderly man easing into a bath.

Following the sighting, several other fishermen saw the creature, and eventually the people of Monterey started to refer to the animal as “Bobo, the old man of the sea.” From then on, Colletto kept a camera on his vessel hoping to once again spot “Bobo” and get photographic evidence of its existence. He never saw it again.

A few years later, in 1925, a strange sea creature washed ashore on a beach two miles north of Santa Cruz. Though the dead body was decomposed, scientists including E.L. Wallace, a former president of the Natural History Society of British Columbia, did not think the carcass was that of a whale or shark. Wallace even suggested that the animal might be a plesiosaurus, a large marine reptile held over from the Jurassic period.

Whatever it was, a creature resembling Bobo was never spotted again in the waters of Monterey Bay. - The tale of Bobo, Monterey Bay’s sea creature, resurfaces

Storm, Rory - "Monster Hunt: The Guide to Cryptozoology" - 2008

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Another Witness Account

This is an account of a sighting that has remained a mystery for me and my brother for approximately 38 years now. My brother and myself, along with our Dad, were fishing in Monterey Bay in 1971 or 1972.

We had rented a 16 foot boat and were headed out into the bay with my brother at the controls. I was seated up front next to him and our Dad was sitting behind us. Suddenly, just a dozen yards or so directly in front of us, some kind of a large sea creature was starting to surface. We saw only part of its arched body, but it was directly in front of us and we both got a good, close-up look. Even though we were total amateurs in all sea-faring activities and knew nothing at all about sea life, we were both convinced that we saw something that wasn't suppose to be in Monterey Bay. We both continued to describe this creature as "some kind of prehistoric sea creature". (That was about the only way we could think of to describe what we saw) We may have been young and inexperienced, but we ALWAYS have maintained that what we saw was not normal. We noted its skin texture, color, and the fact that it had large scales.

Tonight was the very first time that we have ever heard of anything like this being spotted in Monterey Bay. My brother watched the program *"Lost Tapes", then just informed me! After 38 years, we now are happy to say that "We probably were right all along"!!! We have ALWAYS maintained that what we saw was not normal at all.

*The witness is referring to Sharon Novak and the Sea Creature episode

The cable channel Animal Planet had a series called "Lost Tapes." One episode, first aired in January 2009, tells about Sharon Novak and a sea creature. The film does not credit any actress. Allegedly, while attempting a round-the-world trip, in her sailboat named Artemis, journalist Sharon Novak got a distress call while in Monterey Bay. When she arrived at the scene she found an empty boat. Her boat got bumped and she fell over board. While trying to swim back to the boat, she was supposedly eaten by a sea creature.

A camera atop the main sail mast records her efforts to get back to her boat. A waterproof camera she was wearing records a fin and some splashing. This supposedly happened in summer of 2007. A few problems that people have noticed. No news stories on Sharon Novak and no story of a lone woman boat owner going missing in Monterey Bay have been found. No one in Monterey or Santa Cruz has a record of such an incident. The Coast Guard in Monterey, California has no record of any incident involving a vessel named Artemis or any record of Sharon Novak in all of 2007. How is it her waterproof camera survives and her body does not? No writings or blog of Sharon Novak have been found..

A 42-foot sailboat named “Artemis” does exist. It is owned by, Great Traditions Of The Sea, in Malibu, California. It is for teaching sailing and is otherwise for rent.


Click for video 1


Click for video

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The Moore Beach Monster

"On June 4, 1925, the newspapers of Santa Cruz and San Francisco, California, apprised the public of the occurrence of a sea serpent, or other more or less fabled marine monster in California waters. A few days prior to the newspaper stories, the remains of a large marine animal had been washed ashore on the beach at Santa Cruz, California. Decomposition had set in, and close examination of the carcass was not lightly undertaken. Consequently, the tales were the result of distant and hasty examination. When the news of the presence of this creature reached Dr. Barton Warren Evermann, of the California Academy of Sciences, he visited the spot and pronounced the "sea serpent" to be the eviscerated carcass of a beaked whale. More specific identification was impossible at that time, but arrangements were made to have the skull preserved and it is now incorporated in the collections of the California Academy of Sciences.

Examination of the skull after its arrival at the museum proved it to be that of the rare Baird's beaked whale (Berardius bairdii Stejneger), previously known to science by only ten specimens.

When the skull reached the museum, the tips of the mandibles had been broken off, and one pterygoid and the teeth were missing; otherwise it was in good condition." - Journal of Mammalogy, November 1929

Here's a link to the Animal Planet sneak peek video - Lost Tapes: Monster of Monterey

Martin, Jim - "Sea Monsters" - Saturday Evening Post - 4/12/1947

Unknown sea creature netted by Japanese fisherman in 1977

Sources:
www.montereycountyweekly.com
Santa Cruz Sentinel - 1925
Storm, Rory - "Monster Hunt: The Guide to Cryptozoology" - 2008
Marinacci, Mike - "Mysterious California" - 1988
McLellen Davidson, M.E. - Journal of Mammalogy, November 1929
Reinstedt, Randall A. - "Mysterious Sea Monsters Of California's Central Coast: Featuring Bobo, Monterey Bay, And Its Vast Submarine Canyon" - 1993
Martin, Jim - "Sea Monsters" - Saturday Evening Post - 4/12/1947

Florida's Indian River Lagoon Invaded By Mysterious Sea Creature

UCF - A mysterious sea creature of unknown origins has been found in Indian River Lagoon in Brevard County.

The creature that looks like bunched up bright red daisy petals is an ascidian, better known as a sea squirt. But exactly how it got into the lagoon and where it came from has researchers puzzled.

The only thing scientists know for sure is that it is overgrowing native oysters, a keystone organism for the health of the waterway as well as an important part of the local economy. And it may be part of an ugly trend.

University of Central Florida biologist Linda Walters has been monitoring the lagoon and helping to restore its oyster population for the past 14 years. She has since seen three other non-native species invade the lagoon putting it at risk.

Global warming may be partly to blame as water temperatures rise and create inviting environments for species that typically stay in tropical climates farther south. Some states are spending millions of dollars battling invasive marine creatures that use interconnected waterways to spread.

“This is not unique to Florida,” Walters said. “We’re seeing more and more aquatic nonnative species across the United States. They compete with native species and can disrupt the natural ecosystem. And that can have very real consequences.”

In Brevard, for example, if oysters can’t grow because of an invasive species, they can’t clean the lagoon. It’s estimated that one oyster filters five gallons of water a day.

The oysters also provide refuge to native species such as blue crab, shrimp and red fish that locals catch and sell. Without them, many other creatures’ food sources disappear. In the Indian River Lagoon, Walters has identified 149 species that rely on native oysters in a balanced ecosystem.

Eric Hoffman, a UCF evolutionary biologist who specializes in genetic variation of invasive species, is working with Walters. Together with a team of students and other scientists, they are working to trace the origins of each new species in the lagoon through careful detective work.

It’s essential to figure out each species’ origins if invaders are to be kept from wrecking havoc on U.S. waterways, researchers say – like putting together a giant puzzle over long period of time.

“Each time these organism make it into a new environment, there is a potential for them to establish themselves,” Hoffman said. “Sometimes we don’t see the damage for decades. Other times it is more immediate.”

For example, the zebra mussel has steadily been invading U.S. waterways since the late 1980s when it was found in the Great Lakes region. The mussels, which originated in Europe, attached themselves to cargo ships. Now, they have been spotted across North America, including New York, Illinois and even parts of Canada.

The Great Lakes region has spent millions trying to get rid of the mussels, which clog up pipes at utility plants, factories and water treatment facilities. These finger-like shellfish also are endangering industrial, agricultural and municipal water supplies and could become a costly nuisance for freshwater shipping, boating and clamming.

In Brevard County, Walters and Hoffman have studied three other non-native sessile – or fixed – species for the past five years. They are the green mussel, the charru mussel and the pink barnacle. All have been found growing on local oyster reefs, and they’ve spread as far north as South Carolina.

Grants from United States Department of Agriculture, the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program and The Nature Conservancy help the UCF team track the different species. The team will continue to monitor the Indian River Lagoon and 100 other waterways that they check twice every year to study the spread of non-native species.

Although it may take some time, they expect to solve the mystery of this latest invader.

“We are working on it,” said Sarah Cohen, an associate professor at San Francisco State University’s Romberg Tiburon Center who joined the search this year. “Thus far, it does not match samples currently in our genetics database, so it is not one of the readily known invasives. We are adding additional samples from other warmer water locations to our database for comparison.”

The U.S. Geological Survey, which tracks nonnative species found throughout the United States doesn’t have a record of the new ascidian either.

Despite these hurdles, researchers say they’ve already learned some important clues about this mystery sea creature – it doesn’t like the cold.

“The cold weather snaps in December and January seemed to have greatly reduced the abundance of the new sea squirt,” Walters said. “We are having fewer sightings now, and that’s a good thing. However, with warmer weather on the way, new individuals may be found again.”

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Oysters Threatened By Red Slime

wesh - Oysters that call the Indian River Lagoon home are being threatened.

Covered in a layer of sea squirt, a red gooey slime, the oysters are having a hard time settling.

The University of Central Florida has been researching the lagoon for years to try to encourage oyster growth. Marine biologists said the oysters filter the lagoon water and keep the system in balance.

Not having a healthy crop of oysters could result in fewer red fish, fewer flounder and other organisms that live in the lagoon, Dr. Eric Hoffman said.

The sea squirt slows down oyster growth, possibly turning back the progress that has already been made.

The cold winter weather killed some of the sea squirt, but the sunshine of spring brought them back in great numbers.

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Biologists are hoping to figure out a way to get rid of the sea squirt -- or at least slow it down for the sake of the lagoon community.