Thursday, October 31, 2013

No Australian Nessie and no mermaids, either

There have been "sea serpent" reports off Australia before, as well as this bizarre seagoing chimera called the moha-moha (a pretty obvious hoax report if you ask me. Or ask any biologist who ever lived.)  This is, of course, not to be confused with the blimp of the fish world, the mola mola, which if you just hear a description probably sounds like a hoax - but isn't.
The latest report is this one, accompanied by a photograph.  While it looks monstrous, Australian cryptozoologist Rex Gilroy suggests it was the bow of a sunken dragon boat.  Gilroy has a habit of erring on the credulous side of cryptozoology, so when he believes in a prosaic explanation for a report, I suspect he's right. Especially since, in this case, the plesiosaur shape just "bobbed" in the water.  Darn.
Then from Deepsea News we have this analysis of why mermaids don't exist.  Sheanna Steingass explains that mermaids of the classic variety would freeze, be unable to reproduce, and would have a variety of other anatomically-based problems.  Now, I have never met anyone who thinks such a thing actually exists, but it is one of the sea's most charming legends.

My dad, a folk singer, still performs this one.

The Eddystone Light (traditional)

Me father was the keeper of the Eddystone Light,
And he slept with a mermaid one fine night
Out of this union there came three,
A porpoise and a porgy, and the other was me!
Chorus:
With a yo-ho-ho, let the wind blow free,
It’s all for the life on the rolling sea!


One night, as I was a-trimmin’ the glim
And singing a verse from the evening hymn
I see by the light of me binnacle lamp,
Me kind old father lookin’ jolly and damp.
Chorus:
With a yo-ho-ho, let the wind blow free,
It’s all for the life on the rolling sea!


A voice from starboard shouted, “Ahoy!”
And there was me mother sittin’ on a buoy
Meanin’ a bouy for ships what sail,
And not a boy what’s a juvenile male.
Chorus:
With a yo-ho-ho, let the wind blow free,
It’s all for the life on the rolling sea!


Well, what became of me children three?”
Me mother then she asked of me.
Well, one was exhibited as a talking fish,
The other was served as a savory dish.
Chorus:
With a yo-ho-ho, let the wind blow free,
It’s all for the life on the rolling sea!


The phosphorous flashed in her seaweed hair
I looked again and me mother wasn’t there,
But her voice came echoing out of the night,
“To hell with the keeper of the Eddystone Light!”
Chorus:
With a yo-ho-ho, let the wind blow free,
It’s all for the life on the rolling sea!


2 comments:

Laurence Clark Crossen said...

Otto Neugebauer, the famous historian of astronomy, felt it necessary to justify his involvement in studying ancient astrology by writing an article in Isis entitled, “The Study of Wretched Subjects.” How would you justify your involvement in the wretched subject of cryptozoology?

Unlike Neugebauer, who was defending the study of astrology, you seem to be attacking the study of cryptozoology. What would you defend about it?

Matt Bille said...

Clark, quite the contrary. I am upposed to unscientific apporaches where every eyewitness account seems to be reason to erect a new species. I DO think there are many animals yet to find, and some of them (mainly the marine species) will be spectacular.