Lough Erne mystery

Yellow submarine hunting for alien species in lough waters

By Julian Fowler BBC News

A yellow submarine is on a mission beneath the surface of Lough Erne in County Fermanagh in search of an alien species.Zebra mussels are a foreign invasive species which can have a devastating impact on the marine environment, but finding out exactly what is happening in the murky depths of the lake is a challenge.A high-tech submarine is monitoring the bottom of Lough Erne to study the zebra mussel population in different areas and its distribution at various depths.The autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is being developed by Leo Steenson, 26, from Glenarm, County Antrim, who is a PhD student at the University of Southampton.

"This is a two-metre long submarine but it's not remote controlled and there are definitely no people inside it," said Mr Steenson. "It's got a computer inside and a lot of different sensors and what we do is we write some software to let it guide itself.

Read rest here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-18259919

I wonder if they will find the Irish Nessie:

O'Nessie Makes a Splash', Sunday People, August 22nd 1999

Mystery monster has made an Irish waterway its home!   This is the first picture of Ireland's own 'Lough Ness' monster. The sensational snap was taken by an amateur photographer along a 50-mile stretch of water in the Irish midlands. The creature, said to be more than eight feet long and 300lbs, has been spotted several times on the Lough Erne waterway. The latest sighting occurred last week with swimmers in Co Cavan. Local woman Claudia Westrich was swimming near Killykeen when she felt something pushing her down. She thought it was an oar from a boat accompanying her on the swim but when she looked up the vessel was five metres away. She tried to get a good look at the creature but it dived under the water. But local man Sean Walsh, who was on the nearby boat, mistakingly snapped a picture of the creature before it disappeared. "I was photographing calves on the foreshore. When I developed the film I realised what I had taken," he revealed. Sean (65) took the film and his camera equipment to loocal professional photographer Ray Reilly to check for faults.. Ray confirmed the film had not been tampered with. In a separate incident a group of sea scouts from Dalkey in Dublin also reported seeing a creature making a huge splash. Other sightings of the creature have been along the huge waterway in Eniskillen, Co Fermanagh and Belturbet in Co Cavan. Last night Sean, a founding member of Cavan Icebreakers Swimming Club told Sunday People he had no doubt the creature was real. "I don't know what it is but there is something in the water. It has been there for years. "There have been several sightings. People say it is up to eight feet long with a spikey head. It's bizarre," said Sean. Keen swimmer Sean revealed he has had two body contacts with the creature. The first was 25 years ago in almost the same place that Claudia had her eerie encounter. "I could feel it between my legs and swimming around me. It was a strange feeling. "I have never been afraid of it. It only seems to appear when there are swimmers in the water," he said. Chairman of the Cavan Icebreakers, Alex Moran has also reported seeing the creature. Sceptical locals say the creature is a huge catfish or a species of Wels which can grow up to 15 feet and weigh a whopping 600 Ibs. However, visiting English anglers Davy Burgess and Dick Salter of Hayes, Middlesex say they don't think the creature is either. Sean Walsh has his own theory of how the creature came to live and grow in the stretch of water. "Many years ago hundreds of English anglers used to use the Erne Waterway. They brought all sorts of baits with them to catch large pike". "I think the creature is some form of bait from a foreign country which thrived in the area. That's the only explanation I can think of." But now a Dublin detective Garda friend of his plans to look into the existence of the creature. The cop is in Cavan speaking with locals and building up a profile on the creature. "We have had a number of incidents which we would like to get to the bottom of. I have no doubt that the creature exists. "People can say what they like but there is too much evidence which suggests there's something there. "We will get to the bottom of it eventually," he vowed.

As far as I know there have been no other sightings, unless anyone reading this knows anything more?

Yeti recording and Frankenfish

Bigfoot caught on audio recording by Yeti enthusiasts who insist 'there is nothing else it could have been'

By Daily Mail Reporter

A television crew claims to have compelling audio evidence of a Bigfoot-type creature existing in the forests of Australia. The four-member team from Animal Planet’s Finding Bigfoot series recorded the sounds that they attributed to a ‘Yowie’ – a fabled ape-like creature reportedly found in the Australian forests similar to Bigfoot or a sasquatch.The team say they all heard the noises as they were on an expedition through forests near the Queensland and New South Wales border.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2151184/Bigfoot-caught-audio-recording-Yeti-enthusiasts-say-been.html#ixzz1wFG0Uivu

Something fishy about this catch

ANGLER Mark Sawyer was left reeling when he caught a bizarre ‘Frankenstein’ fish.

Mark, 53, the tackle editor for trade magazine the Angling Times, says the fish appears to be made up from three different species.He said: “The fish appears to have the head of a roach, the body and tail of a brown goldfish and the anal fin of a bream.”He made the freak catch while fishing for carp at Magpie Lake in Cambridge.

See pic here: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4342159/Something-fishy-about-this-catch.html

rare stingray scares fisherman

Stingray spooks villagers

Salaseini Vosamana
Sunday, May 27, 2012

THE Department of Fisheries has confirmed receiving a report from Naiqaqi Village in Cakaudrove about a rare stingray that was spotted lying on the sea floor three weeks ago by a group of fishermen.Divisional Fisheries Officer Northern Gerald Billings said it was only a single report without explicit details."We have received a report but it's not a detailed one however, stingrays are common in coastal tropical marine waters throughout the world and are usually found either singly or in pairs," he said

Read rest here: http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=202382

Chupacabra and Mayans article

Mexico: a date with mystical Mayan time lords

New archaeological finds are quickening interest in the Maya, a people whose history is shrouded in myths. Nigel Richardson, touring their former lands, found old beliefs as potent as ever .

By Nigel Richardson

Between the ruined Mayan cities of Kabah and Uxmal, in the Mexican state of Yucatán, there is a red church on a hill. The interior is lined with strange wooden shrines, their doors ajar like cabinets of curiosities. A caretaker who was clearing away the guttered candles welcomed us and said sadly, “We don’t hold so many religious festivals these days. Because of the chupacabra, you see.” The chupacabra? It translates literally as “goatsucker” – a cryptid, or mythical beast, that the villagers of Santa Elena believe preys on livestock. If you hold a festival you are just asking for the chupacabra to saunter along and pick off the goats and pigs you bring to feed the festival-goers. So it’s best not to hold festivals in the first place. Superstition runs deep here – as deep, indeed, as el inframundo, the underworld, which underpinned the beliefs of the old Mayan civilisation of Mexico and Central America. This year the eyes of the world are turning afresh on this extraordinary people and period of history.
Read rest here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/centralamericaandcaribbean/mexico/9287547/Mexico-a-date-with-mystical-Mayan-time-lords.html

living legends and mystery about first walker.

Living Legends

Do mythical creatures like Bigfoot ever turn out to be real?

By Brian Palmer

Scientists at Oxford University and Switzerland's Lausanne Museum of Zoology plan to use DNA evidence to determine once and for all whether Bigfoot is real, Reuters reported Tuesday. The museum has a collection of alleged sasquatch remains and will ask other institutions to send their own materials for analysis. When's the last time a mythical creature was proven real?Nine years ago. Hunters in Tanzania had for years spoken of a monkey they called the kipunji. Conservation biologists were skeptical, because the traditional tales of the Wanyakyusa people who populate the mountainous region include both real and mythical creatures. In 2003, however, biologists found the 3-foot-tall arboreal primate with brown body hair and a black face. The animal’s loud, low-pitched “honk bark” helped to distinguish it as a species. Researchers now believe there are between 1,000 and 2,000 kipunjis in the area.The kipunji is the most recent so-called cryptid to turn up in the wild, but it’s far from the first. Several well-known species began as rumors or legends. Throughout the 19th century, explorers of Africa reported glimpses of a zebra-like creature in the Ituri Forest of the Congo. Europeans began to refer to the creature as the “African unicorn.” In 1890, Henry Morton Stanley—of “Doctor Livingstone, I presume” fame—confirmed that the Wambutti pygmies who lived in the area spoke of a sacred animal that fit the description. (The Wambutti called the animal the O’api, but Stanley reported it as “atti.”) A decade later, explorers obtained hide and bones [PDF] from the animal, proving it was more closely related to the giraffe than the zebra. Today, the okapi is the mascot for the field of cryptozoology.

Read rest here: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/explainer/2012/05/bigfoot_dna_analysis_how_often_do_scientists_discover_mythical_creatures_.html

Ancient walking mystery deepens

By Helen Briggs BBC News

One of the first creatures to step on land could not have walked on four legs, 3D computer models show.Textbook pictures of the 360-million-year-old animal moving like a salamander are incorrect, say scientists.Instead, it would have hauled itself from the water using its front limbs as crutches, research in Nature suggests.The move from living in water to life on land - a pivotal moment in evolution - must have been a gradual one.Ichthyostega is something of an icon in the fossil world. Living during the Upper Devonian period, it was dubbed a "fishapod", with its mixture of fish-like and amphibious features.Although it probably spent much of its time under water, at times it was thought to have crawled halfway up onto land on limb-like flippers. Exactly how it moved on land has been a matter of much debate, however.

Read rest here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18177493