Evolving Cryptids ?

Cryptids and evolution.

I have often speculated that crpytids could only be relic survivors from ancient times if they evolved hugely in order to survive. In prehistoric times oxygen levels were higher, the seas were shallower, clear and warmer etc. So in order to be alive in any form in modern times they would have to adapt to polluted air and colder darker polluted seas.I came across the article below in which small fish had evolved to withstand high levels of pollution in the Houston Ship Channel.

A small fish somehow evolved resistance to the heavily polluted water of the Houston Ship Channel by mysteriously acquiring genes from another fish from thousands of miles away, according to a new paper.The Houston Ship Channel’s filthy water is the result of 60 years of industrial dumping, contaminating the water out into Galveston Bay. But despite the grime, a population of Gulf killifish have managed to evolve resistance to the otherwise lethal pollution. Genetic sequences revealed that the fish have integrated a small bit of DNA from another species of fish, the Atlantic killifish. These results show the extreme luck and difficulty required for animals to adapt to environments changed quickly by humans.

But the incredible realization of how this fish evolved its pollution resistance came from genetic testing. A pair genes from the pollutant-resistant Gulf killifish, including a segment with deleted DNA that seemed to account for the resistance, appeared to come directly from another species, the Atlantic killifish. The mystery, now, is how the fish managed to make it from the Atlantic coast to the Gulf of Mexico. “We can only speculate,” said Whitehead. “It was almost certainly human assisted. These fish aren’t capable of swimming around the straits of Florida.” Perhaps an Atlantic killifish was scooped up in a ship’s ballast water and dumped into Galveston Bay.

Read full article here: https://gizmodo.com/this-fish-has-evolved-to-thrive-in-intensely-polluted-w-1834473178

However it happened in 34 generations the fish had evolved to cope with high pollution levels. If the fish could do it then so could other creatures. Perhaps an ice age creature mated with a more modern creature to produce a hybrid that could survive in polluted seas etc. It could explain some lake monsters surviving in lakes formed during the ice age. A sea creature trapped in a newly formed lake which then  mated with a fresh water creature and evolving into a hybrid that could be surviving today. Nessie could be a hybrid of a seal and a sturgeon! That would be one for the books! Seriously  though it could be the answer to how something could still be surviving hundreds of years after it supposedly went extinct .An interesting theory for you to ponder. Please feel free to comment.

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