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Sea Serpent

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Post  Admin 10/27/2008, 2:14 am

Sea Serpent

by Micha F. Lindemans
Sea Serpent Spacer
Sea Serpent Spacer
Imaginary snake-like creatures of monstrous size that inhabit the deep. In the early times of seafaring, but also until more recent times, many sailors mentioned the existence of such creatures, and they were accounted for destroying a great number of ships. These tales were largely exaggerated and probably based on sightings of large amounts of floating seaweed and ordinary marine creatures such as a sea snake and oarfish. A monster such as a sea snake is reputed to exist in Loch Ness.

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Sea Serpent Empty Re: Sea Serpent

Post  Admin 10/27/2008, 2:15 am

Sea serpent


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Sea Serpent Magnify-clip
A sea serpent from Olaus Magnus' book History of the Northern Peoples (1555).


Sea Serpent Magnify-clip
A sea serpent crypto-taxidermy by Juan Cabana, modeled after myths.



Sea serpent has come to mean almost invariably a sea monster that is generally long and serpentine. There are occasional cases reported of long serpentine creatures in the Ocean, sometimes even multiple person sightings, especially on ships or at the beach.
Aquatic serpents have been reported since ancient history. The Leviathan of the Old Testament is described as a "crooked serpent" in the King James Version of the Bible.
In Norse mythology, Jörmungandr (often anglicized as Jormungand) was a sea serpent so long that it encircled the entire span of the world. Stories were told of how sailors would mistake its back for a chain of islands. Sea serpents appear frequently also in later Scandinavian folklore, particularly in Norway.
On the Carta marina by the Swedish ecclesiastic and writer Olaus Magnus, many forms of marine monsters, including a vast sea serpent, appear; and in his 1555 work History of the Northern Peoples, he gives the following description of a Norwegian sea serpent:

Those who sail up along the coast of Norway to trade or to fish, all tell the remarkable story of how a serpent of fearsome size, 200 feet long and 20 feet wide, resides in rifts and caves outside Bergen. On bright summer nights this serpent leaves the caves to eat calves, lambs and pigs, or it fares out to the sea and feed on sea nettles, crabs and similar marine animals. It has ell-long hair hanging from its neck, sharp black scales and flaming red eyes. It attacks vessels, grabs and swallows people, as it lifts itself up like a column from the water.
One of the most famous Norwegian sea serpents is Seljordsormen (also nicknamed Selma in concord with Nessie), which is said to live in the lake Seljordsvatn in Telemark. It was first reported seen in 1750.
In the 19th century, the coast of New England had several major sightings. On August 18, 1817 a meeting of the New England Linnaean Society even gave a deformed terrestrial snake the name Scoliophis atlanticus thinking it was the juvenile form of the sea serpent that has been seen by the local community.
The most famous sea serpent sighting is probably that by the officers and men of HMS Daedalus in August, 1848 whilst en route to Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.
They are generally categorized as someone misinterpreting a real animal, such as a sea snake or oarfish.
Sea serpents are a staple of nautically inclined swords and sorcery stories.[edit]


See also


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External links



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