Loch Ness Monster Nessie Unlikely to Be a Giant Eel If It Exists, Mathematician Says

Loch Ness monster Nessie could not be a giant eel based on catch data, according to a mathematician.

Loch Ness Monster Nessie Not a Giant Eel

The Loch Ness monster has been a topic of fascination among scientists and fantasy enthusiasts since 1933. Floe Foxon, a data analyst, debunked one of the theories, suggesting that it was a giant eel if it existed.

Foxon calculated the probability of the existence of a European eel over 20 feet in length in the Scottish loch using catch data. According to him, the possibility was "essentially zero." However, he admitted that it could be an eel "but not a very large one," Daily Mail reported.

According to Foxon, the probability of finding an eel approximately 3.3 feet is around 1 in 50,000.

The data analyst calculated about 8,000 eels in Loch Ness at one time. European eels or Anguilla anguilla can grow between 2.0 and 2.6 feet long. According to him, some eels may account for the purported sightings of somewhat large animals at the loch surface.

However, the probability of finding an eel the size of Nessie is "essentially zero."

Loch Ness Monster Possibly a Giant Eel?

Prior to Foxon's new study, Professor Neil Gemmell of the University of Otago also conducted an extensive DNA study in Loch Ness, the home of the infamous monster, Daily Mail stated in a separate report.

His team identified 15 different species of fish and 3,000 types of bacteria. However, they didn't find evidence of plesiosaurs, a pre-historic marine reptile linked to Nessie.

There was no evidence of large fish like sturgeon, catfish and Greenland sharks. However, they did find a significant amount of eel DNA.

Professor Gemmell confirmed that there is plenty of eel DNA in loch ness, which is almost present in every location they sampled. He admitted that they were unaware of their size, but the quantity of the materials supports the possibility that there could be giant eels in Loch Ness. He concluded that the Loch Ness monster could be a giant eel.

Loch Ness Monster Nessie a Plesiosaur?

There were speculations that Nessie was a plesiosaur. However, some argued that the mythical Scottish beast might not survive there because plesiosaurs are saltwater creatures.

Co-author Nick Longrich added that it was unlikely because plesiosaurs went extinct 66 million years ago.

However, a paper published in the journal Cretaceous Research learned that plesiosaurs, though ocean dwellers, could survive in freshwater. A young leptocleididae plesiosaur measuring 1.5 meters was found in a 100-million-year-old freshwater system known as the Sahara desert.

Longrich added that even if paleontologists have always called plesiosaurs "marine reptiles," it didn't mean they had lived in the sea all the time because they also invaded freshwater.

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