00:00 The Loch Ness Monster!
00:05 It was a headline-grabbing dive into cryptozoology, albeit one that has long been debunked.
00:09 But what if Nessie wasn't a remnant of the Cretaceous period and some leftover dinosaur,
00:14 but rather a giant eel?
00:16 That was one of the last explanations that carried any weight within the speculative
00:19 community.
00:20 But now that theory has been put to the test, and the results are a bit disappointing.
00:24 The Loch Ness Monster was first sighted back in the 1930s and rose to international phenomenon
00:29 after this photo was published.
00:31 The image is now believed to have been a fake created by an actor at the time.
00:34 And in 2018, a sweeping DNA analysis of the body of water discovered there was no genetic
00:39 material related to giant prehistoric creatures.
00:42 However, they did find eel DNA.
00:45 The Loch is a known home of European eels, but investigators hoping to put Nessie's speculation
00:49 to bed, wanted to be sure there weren't any giant eels responsible for the Loch Ness sightings.
00:54 Now after capturing and measuring some 20,000 eels from the area, they have found that the
00:58 upper limit for eel size within the Loch is only 4.3 feet, a far cry from sea monster
01:04 status, one which experts estimate based on this photo would have had to be around 20
01:08 feet in length.
01:09 Meaning that's another Nessie theory down the drain.
01:12 (upbeat music)
01:14 (upbeat music)
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