Thursday, 1 March 2012

Plesiosaur and Giant Eel Bunyips

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The many forms of Bunyip:
Dog Faced, Plesiosaur, Longnecked, and Sea-dog.


Bunyip Models for Contest, Spore Forum
I would say that the Longnecked one shown is a Plesiosaur with falsely assumed quadruped legs, rather like a Sirrush after Ted Holliday.

http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-australian-mythical-creatures.php

In New South Wales lies the Hawkesbury River, home to one of Australia’s strangest cryptids. The beast, known simply as the Hawkesbury River Monster, is a kind of aquatic lizard, much like the Loch Ness Monster of Scotland. Descriptions of the creature liken it to the prehistoric plesiosaur, extinct for 70 million years. Sightings report that it is between 7 and 24 meters long [between 23 and 80 feet long-the last is probably an exaggeration]. It supposedly has two sets of flippers and a lengthy, snakelike neck and head. The monster was first heard of by settlers in the 1800s, although there is Aboriginal rock art over 3-4000 years old in the area that describes the creature. The settlers were told stories by the Aboriginals of woman and children being attacked by the moolyewonk or mirreeular, both of them Aboriginal names for the monster that lurks in the river. Much like its Scottish cousin, the Hawkesbury River Monster has gained significant attention from the scientific world. Many hunters and crytozoologists have spent decades trying to locate and/or catch the monster. There have been hundreds of reported sightings, so the odds are the monster hunters will be scouring the area for many years to come.


[The Longnecked/SeaSerpent Bunyip is also known by the traditional Bunyip names such as Yarru 
 Ya-hu or Yero, or Whowie, confusingly similar to the humanoid Yahoo or Wowie.
 The "Big Eel" description is similarly referred to by the same "Bunyip" names, also Bolong-DD]

Muldjewangk
ha!

Deep in the Murray River of South Australia lurks a terrible race of creatures known as the muldjewangk. Details on the creature vary. Some say that they are a race of merfolk.[others that it is a type of  gigantic eel-like fish as pictured]  Others say that it is but a single giant monster. But one thing is constant: you don’t want to mess with them. Supposedly hiding under clumps of floating seaweed, the muldjewangk destroy fishing nets and disturb those who are foolish enough to enter their territory. Though some local elders claim that the muldjewangk no longer exist, they still thrive in stories told to naughty children to keep them from playing by the river after dark.
Read more: http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-australian-mythical-creatures.php#ixzz1nXth1OeL
http://forteanzoology.blogspot.com/2009/11/lindsay-selby-australian-giant-eel.html

Lindsay Selby posted about giant Australian eels back at the end of 2009. The photo at left was posted in a followup article posted on a different site. Here is Lindsay's article again:

LINDSAY SELBY: Australian Giant Eel story tantalisingly unfinished

I found the following from 2005 whilst browsing the web:
Wednesday, February 23, 2005. 'Loch Ness' eel frightens tourist”
A monster eel, which is believed to have taken up residence at a Warburton trout farm, east of Melbourne, has reportedly been sighted this morning. The eel, which is said to be at least three metres long with a head the size of a football, has been scaring fishermen at Tommy Finn's trout farm. Farm manager Gary Wales says an Irish tourist got the fright of his life when he encountered the eel early this morning. "Next thing he's banging on me bloody wall on the door of the house, banging, saying 'Gary, Gary I've seen it'. So I flew out of bed right, I said 'how big is it mate?' He said 'big as my bloody car'," he said. The operators of a trout farm are offering a $1000 reward to anyone who catches what has been described as Melbourne's own Loch Ness monster. It is believed the eel washed into the farm's ponds during this month's record breaking storms. source:http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200502/s1308868.htm

Reward offered for Melbourne 'Loch Ness' eel

The operators of a trout farm are offering a $1000 reward to anyone who catches Melbourne's own Loch Ness monster. A giant eel, believed to be around four metres long with a head the size of a football has been spotted at the trout farm at Warburton. It is believed the eel washed into the farm's ponds during this month's record breaking storms. Farm manager Gary Wales says efforts to catch the giant creature have so far been unsuccessful. "We don't want it harmed, this things probably 30-years-old, and he's come here probably by mistake and he's found himself a good little home and plenty of food," he said. "We hope to catch him alive and take him to the Melbourne Aquarium." He says he has never heard of such a large eel before. "No. Maybe it's Nessy, Nessy's offspring maybe, who knows, but no, it's a big eel.

Does anyone in CFZ world know if they caught it and what happened to it? It would be fascinating to study and may well be a relative of Nessie!

3 comments:

Dale Drinnon said...

[4 meters long is incidentally 13 and 1/3 feet long-DD]

Dale Drinnon said...
Several rumors of New Zealand Taniwhas specify Giant eels. Tony Lucas and I have written each other on that subject before. I mentioned that is sounds like the same (smaller-category) Giant eels as seen in Europe, Eastern Canada and elsewhere in the world and Tony said "It is a worldwide phenomenon"
Oll Lewis said...
I've been keeping tabs on the story for the CFZ's Aquatic Monster Study Group and I've not come across any update to this story either. However two things to bear in mind are eels can be very mobile (large or small) so if it is still alive and indeed if the sightings were accurate in the first place there is no guarantee it's not moved on to pastures or indeed lakes new.
Tabitca said...
Thanks for the comments Dale and Oll. I believe there is some scientific work going on at the Sargasso Sea looking at eel migration. Maybe they will find a giant eel.There are so many reports from around the world that I feel someone will find one eventually. Unfortunately the publicity stunt pulled over Steve Alten's book at Loch Ness has rather dented their credibility.

1 comment:

  1. Just Saw two of them hunting in a pack... they are real... Real hungry... leave them alone at all costs. I think they are in the Conger family!

    ReplyDelete

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