My first thought when I saw the picture was "Looks like a Photoshopped log." I usually go with first impressions but I'll keep an open mind.

[edit on 7-1-2009 by MrMicrophone]

What I find interesting in the story is the guy see's it and is scared to death but happens to remember he has a camera and has time to pull it out aim, zoom, snap the pic before the supposed creature drops his head down or is too far in front of him to take the pic as it swam by him.

Now if you say that it was swimming towards him and he did all that and got the pic as it swam by him, well then I have a hard time believing that someone scared to death of an unknown creature is just going to stand there and fiddle around getting out his camera to try and snap a shot of it before it gets too close to eat you. His story I find a bit skeptical.

For me I would have said oh ya it shocked the heck out of me and then I thought sweet I have my camera I wouldn't go around saying I was scared to death because if that was the case I wouldn't screw with the camera I would get the heck out of doge before the thing decided to eat me for lunch or something.

As for the log you do get logs stuck in mud and between rocks and other logs already sticking up through the ground that catch other logs which drift underneath them and the top of the pops up through the surface and the back side is stuck underneath the other submerged log.

However I think it is actually a shot very close to the shore zoomed in to give the size effect where as the log is actually washed up into a shallow beach and the back of it got pushed into the sand or mud underneath the water from a strong current. Maybe there is something indicating size that I over looked but if I was to hoax something like this that is basically how I would do it. With a tide coming in or going out you could give it the illusion of being propelled.

It appears to me to be a driftwood log with a cartoon eye and teeth added. I don't swim in natural waters anyway!





[edit on 7/1/2009 by toochaos4u]

To me, it looks like someone found a large rock that was partly sticking out of the water (or maybe he threw one into the water), and then photoshopped in the eyes from maybe a raptor or T-Rex image.

To me, the giveaway is the teeth. How is it so bright when the entire side of its faced is dark from the lack of sunlight?

Here's what I see (without the eyes or teeth):




Here it is close up:

Originally posted by SLAYER69
Oh please be real!
Oh please be real!
Oh please be real!


Probably photoshop

We can always hope though

ya prolly fake but, I hope also that its real

I share your sentiments exactly

Whoa, it looks like Nancy Pelosi!!

I think they should consider Pelosi as part of the name if it is a new species.

The "Shark toothed Pelosi serpant".

I'm going to call fake. It COULD very well be the lighting, but the eyes and teeth look too.. unreal, and they don't tend to merge with the head in a natural manner.

I'm still on the fence, but I would point out that the "looks like a log" arguments fail to take into account some species of animals do mimic foliage and natural landscapes for camoflage.

Probability is a fake, but it's still a very good image that makes one wonder.

I'm not really expecting to have this one be proven either way.

It is very tough to decide for this one. The quality is too low to have successfully edited the eyes and teeth on in such a undetectable way. But, there are several people that can do that, so I remain in the middle.

Looks like a picture of a dolphin with the face of a jurassic park raptor overlayed onto it with photoshop...

It looks like it's posing for the camera. Which makes me feel like it's fake. It has too much of a made up creature look to it. But you never know, there are some strange creatures out there, especially sea creatures.

without any other object it is hard to find a scale. but I do not find it very unusual. in fact it looks like my ex girlfriend to me.

this is probably along the lines of the loch ness monster....I took a trip up in August and spoke to one of the guys who has been working on the loch for many years....he told me he had seen it on several occasions and has pictures that he wont release....he also said that this is not the only place and this type of creature lives in some lakes in South America and some other places around the world.....I didnt understand much of what he was saying as he had a very strong Scottish accent but this guy didnt sound like your average bull excreter....

Someone's been horsing around with an image of a humpback whale...compare......





Thought I oughta' include the original...


[edit on 7-1-2009 by MrPenny]

As a photographer - I always paid attention to a light and shadows. Every object do cast a shadow and in this photo the shadow it is missing. It is very poor design fake as even in Photoshop ( or any other photo editing programs) some would easily create a shadow. Sorry folks - it is a fake.