Comments on: Long Necked Pinniped, Parsons 1751

By: bill rebsamen

bill rebsamen — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 03:50:15 +0000

Interesting that this subject popped up as I just saw an amazing photo online the other day of a leopard seal extending its neck to devour a penguin.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2013/01/leopard-seal-nabs-penguin-in-the-antarctic/

But a seal with a significantly longer neck? Hmm…Never say never with nature!

By: springheeledjack

springheeledjack — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 04:12:28 +0000

I’ve always been a fan of the long necked pinniped. If Nature is good at anything and has proven anything, it’s that animals will evolve to fit a niche. The ocean offers rich examples of really odd critters that are very specialized and varying in size. Look at the whale populations in terms of size. It’s not a stretch of the imagination (or the neck) that a long necked seal of larger size would be possible.

The ocean is the one environment that allows for larger critters which are often only stinted in size by food, predators and population. As was pointed out, it could be that such critters have become extinct or are on their way there.

On the other hand, as I said up there somewhere, the number of sightings of sea serpents may indeed be misleading because of shipping lanes–most ships take the shortest point to destination or follow present shipping lanes and creatures are smart enough to figure out that the best way to avoid big objects moving through the water is to avoid those areas if travel is consistent.

Obviously over fishing could have an impact on larger creatures too.

By: cryptokellie

cryptokellie — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 02:48:32 +0000

Pardon my correction; I meant dessicated not dissicated…my spelling dyslexia striking again.

By: cryptokellie

cryptokellie — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 21:45:40 +0000

By the way…check out the skeletal image for a Sea Lion on Google. They do have a surprisingly long neck after removing the blubber layer. Perhaps the “long-necked”
specimen described in olden days was from a deceased and dissicated example. It would certainly appear very different in those days…

By: cryptokellie

cryptokellie — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 20:03:10 +0000

There are problems with both the “Giant Salamander” and “Long-necked Seal” explainations for Loch Ness sightings.
“Giant Salamander”
1. Most if not all aquatic salamanders live in shallow water evirons.
2. All aquatic salamanders lay an egg mass in shallow water which should have been seen and known to locals.
3. The many larva salamanders would stay in very shallow water to avoid predacious fish and eels and should have been seen and known to locals
4. Extant Giant Salamanders – Cryptobranchidae – can be caught and are often hooked by fishing lines. This would have hapened in Loch Ness by now and be know to locals.
5. 3-4 species of salamander…more properly newts, are found in Scotland and live at and around Loch Ness. They all go through an eft stage and spend time on land.
They are all known to locals and present no mystery.
“Long-necked Seals or Pinnipeds”
1. Old zoological misidentifications aside, no long-necked pinipeds have been found…alive or extinct.
2. All pinnipeds are air breathers and would be a common sight at the surface.
3. The great majority of pinnipeds are marine animals. Two species of fresh water pinnipeds exist but they are well known and present no mysteries to locals.
4. Pinnipeds have their young in rookeries and many live as groups for life.
5. Pinnipeds as a group are both social and gregarious and would be seen and well known to locals. There are occasional visiting seals in the Loch and they are known to locals…pinnipeds also make a wide range of loud vocalizations, well known to locals but unknown at Loch Ness.
These problems aside, either explantion is possible as opposed to being impossible but are highly unlikely, as the terms of their life-styles would make both options well known to the locals.

By: Desertdweller

Desertdweller — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 23:38:18 +0000

I suggest that the best chance of solving this mystery lies not in tracking down the cryptid in the wild, but tracking down the specimen in the museum.

Museums, especially British ones, are famous for not throwing anything out. In fact, the older the specimen gets, the greater the chance it will be retained.

Somewhere, the type specimen is probably sitting in a dark storeroom or basement, covered in dust, awaiting discovery.

By: Insanity

Insanity — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 22:24:02 +0000

That is a good point bobzilla, what having an elongated might be a disadvantage to a pinniped, their shorter bodies are good for retaining body heat in the cold water that they live in. Being longer would increase body heat loss I’d imagine, unless they were also more equally more massive to account for it.

By: bobzilla

bobzilla — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 21:59:22 +0000

There are certain aspects of many descriptions that are quite common and if we start with these and work backwards, we should at least narrow down reptile/amphibian or mammal.

From what I recall some common traits are: horse-like head (sometimes with mane and/or “horns”), smooth body, moves up and down on the water as opposed to side to side, solid coloring (no striping, spots, mottling, etc.).

Is there anything in the fossil record that shows any long-necked pinnipeds or other sea mammals? What are the advantages of having long slender bodies, necks, and tails? If pinnipeds are indeed what’s living in places like Loch Ness, I think there would be a lot more land sightings of a few lying out on the shore, no?

I admit, I know virtually nothing about pinnipeds, so I’m going from a layman’s viewpoint.

By: Insanity

Insanity — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 21:49:27 +0000

Additionally, if it were a pinniped, that was not a permanent resident of the loch, thus no rookeries, the only connection to the sea is River Ness.

The river is about 8 miles long and goes through the center of Inverness, a city of some 60,000 people. In Inverness, the river is about 60 meters wide. At one point near the Infirmary Bridge, the river is about 30 to 100 centimeters deep, though it does rise considerably after heavy rains. Fisherman can walk across the river here. There are also the handful of weirs throughout its length that lie just below the surface.

Grey seals obviously get up the river into the loch, they are seen there, the grey seal bulls usually maxing at 11 ft. If an unknown pinniped that is twice the size or more, can accomplish the same, and not be seen by the residents of Inverness, is another question perhaps.

I still would think a good candidate would be a creature that does not need to spend a lot of time at the surface, and a salamander species does fall into that category.

By: MR JOSHUA

MR JOSHUA — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 19:16:56 +0000

If it were a pinneped it would be breaching the surface quit often to fill its lungs with air. Suggesting that the cryptids in the Loch/Champlain are pinnepeds is dubious since we would be seeing these creatures quite often coming up for air. Pinnepeds also give birth and raise their young on dry land so these creatures would have been observed multiple times. Pinnepeds also tend to be very curious creatures (I have had ones come right upside a boat while I am fishing) so I would think the sightings would be more numerous. My guess would be an aquatic reptile or eel….something with gills.