Beasts of Water

Water beckons us. It is soothing and seductive… but it's also capable of unleashing deadly force. The mythic creatures that inhabit the depths give form to water's essential mysteries. They arouse feelings of curiosity, hope — and bottomless fear. Like water itself, these creatures can be beautiful and enticing. But will they share their life-giving bounty? Or lure us to destruction? Download this printable colouring page > Click on an image to leARN MORE ABOUT THIS BEAST OF WATER Kraken Ogopogo Mermaid Mishepishu VIEW THE BESTIARY >

Debunking certain myths surrounding beasts of water

However fantastical they may seem, many beasts of water have their roots in the natural world. Strange sights can — through misidentification, speculation, fear or exaggeration — inspire tall tales as people seek to make sense of the world around them.

• The monstrous kraken of Scandinavian sea legends may well be a giant squid, a cephalopod mollusk that can grow to 20 m (65 feet). That’s somewhat smaller than the kraken’s reported 2.5 km (1.5 mile) circumference, but terrifying nonetheless.
  
  
• Other sea monster sightings were probably also cases of mistaken identity. “Sea serpents” could be oarfish, a rarely seen eel-like species that reaches lengths of 11 m (36 feet), and has a crest of red spines on its head. Other “monsters” have turned out to be the carcasses of basking sharks, which can reach 9 m (30 feet) in length, or even large clumps of seaweed.
  
  
• Mermaids have a reputation as beautiful, alluring creatures, but seafarers were perhaps taking an optimistic view of dugongs. These large but graceful aquatic mammals of the Indian Ocean swim close to shore and surface to breathe. Their heads and fishlike tails may have suggested mermaids. Manatees, a similar species found in rivers and coastal waters of the Atlantic, may also have inspired mermaid tales. The myth was further fed by fraudulent fabrications made by sewing the head and torso of a monkey to the tail of a fish. The best-known mermaid hoax was P.T. Barnum’s Feejee mermaid, which thousands of people paid to see.
  
  
• Folk tales about freshwater lake creatures like the Loch Ness Monster and Ogopogo have been attributed variously to sightings of logs, unusually large lake sturgeons or even relict populations of marine dinosaurs.