Stronsay Monster

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A drawing from 1808
Another drawing from the same year

The monster of Stronsay (English " Stronsay Beast ") is an animal whose carcass was discovered on September 25, 1808 by a fisherman named John Peace.

The animal was washed up at Rothiesholm Head in the southeast of the Orkney island of Stronsay . Its description and some drawings were made based on the testimony of witnesses. Accordingly, it was about 17 meters long, the neck alone measured about 3 meters. It had a relatively small head, smooth gray skin, and a mane from head to tail. It had three pairs of limbs, according to the witnesses. The burst stomach is said to have contained a red liquid.

The animal's skeleton was made of cartilage , so bony fish (such as a belt fish ), reptiles and marine mammals are out of the question. At the given size, only whale sharks and basking sharks remain of known species , the former only occurring in tropical waters. However, the largest known basking shark is only 12 meters long.

The animal was also held for a newly discovered species and they gave him the name Halsydrus pontoppidani , Erik Ludvigsen Pontoppidan honor, however, was this later as a synonym for Cetorhinus maximus dropped. Parts of the remains are kept in the Royal Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. They have been preserved with chemicals that make DNA analysis impossible. Other remains brought to London were destroyed by German air raids in World War II, but anatomical drawings exist in Edinburgh.

Sir Alexander Gibson made an artistic drawing of the monster, on which it resembles a plesiosaur . Sir Everard Home suspected that it was a basking shark which is scientific consensus. Since basking sharks lose their jaws at an early stage of decomposition, this is not a contradiction to drawing. The mane could have been frayed muscle tissue.

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