Sea Monster?

:This article is about sea serpents in mythology and cryptozoology. For actual marine snakes, see Sea snake. For the constellation, see Hydra (constellation).

A sea serpent or sea dragon is a mythological sea monster either wholly or partly serpentine.

Sightings of sea serpents have been reported for hundreds of years, and continue to be claimed today. Cryptozoologist Bruce Champagne identified more than 1,200 purported sea serpent sightings.Bruce Champagne. A Preliminary Evaluation of a Study of the Morphology, Behavior, Autoecology, and Habitat of Large, Unidentified Marine Animals, Based on Recorded Field Observations. Available at strangeark. Pages 99-118 Despite these numerous sightings, no credible physical evidence has been recorded and it is currently believed that the sightings can be best explained as misidentification of known animals such as oarfish and whales. Some cryptozoologists have suggested that the sea serpents are relict plesiosaurs, mosasaurs or other Mesozoic marine reptiles, an idea often associated with lake monsters such as the Loch Ness Monster.

In Greek mythology, the Sirens (Greek singular: '; Greek plural: ') were three dangerous bird-women, portrayed as seductresses, who lived on an island called Sirenum scopuli. In some later, rationalized traditions the literal geography of the "flowery" island of Anthemoessa, or Anthemusa,"We must steer clear of the Sirens, their enchanting song, their meadow starred with flowers" is Robert Fagles' rendering of lines in Odyssey XI. is fixed: sometimes on Cape Pelorum and at others in the Sirenusian islands near Paestum or in Capreae.Strabo i. 22 ; Eustathius of Thessalonica's Homeric commentaries §1709 ; Servius I.e. All such locations were surrounded by cliffs and rocks. Sailors who sailed near were compelled by the Sirens' enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast. When the Sirens were given a parentage they were considered the daughters of the river god Achelous, fathered upon Terpsichore, Melpomene, Sterope, or Chthon, the Earth, in Euripides' Helen 167, where Helen in her anguish calls upon "Winged maidens, daughters of the Earth". Although they lured mariners, for the Greeks the sirens in their "meadow starred with flowers" were not sea deities. Roman writers linked the Sirens more closely to the sea, as daughters of Phorcys.Virgil. V. 846; Ovid XIV, 88.

Their number is variously reported as between two and five: Homer says nothing of their origin or names, but gives the number of the Sirens as two 12:52. Later writers mention both their names and number; some state that there were three, Peisinoe, Aglaope, and Thelxiepeia (Tzetzes, ad Lycophron 7l2) or Parthenope, Ligeia, and Leucosia (Eustathius, loc. cit.; Strabo v. §246, 252 ; Servius' commentary on Virgil's Georgics iv. 562). Eustathius (Commentaries §1709) states that they were two, Aglaopheme and Thelxiepeia. Their individual names are variously rendered in the later sources as Thelxiepeia/Thelxiope/Thelxinoe, Molpe, Aglaophonos/Aglaope/Aglaopheme, Pisinoe/Peisinoë/Peisithoe, Parthenope, Ligeia, Leucosia, Raidne, and Teles.

The sirens of Greek mythology are sometimes portrayed in later folklore as fully aquatic and mermaid-like; the fact that in Spanish, French, Italian, Polish, Romanian and Portuguese, the word for mermaid is respectively Sirena, Sirène, Sirena, Syrena, Siren? and Sereia, and that in biology the Sirenians comprise an order of fully aquatic mammals that includes the dugong and manatees, add to the visual confusion, so that sirens are even represented as mermaids, to the extent that Starbucks' heraldic melusine, crowned and displaying her double tail, a creature of the medieval imagination, is officially considered at Starbucks a siren: in 2006, Valerie O'Neil, a Starbucks spokeswoman, said that the logo is an image of a "twin-tailed siren". However, "the sirens, though they sing to mariners, are not sea-maidens," Harrison had cautioned; "they dwell on an island in a flowery meadow."Harrison 198f.

A mermaid is a mythological aquatic creature with a female human head and torso and the tail of an aquatic animal such as a fish. Mermaids have a broad representation in folklore, literature, and popular culture.

The Loch Ness Monster is a debated, mythical creature, most commonly speculated to be from a line of long-surviving plesiosaurs,(Author: A G Harmsworth, 2009) Loch-ness.org says the Plesiosaur theory is "Without doubt (the) most popular candidate among monster believers and the press": http://www.loch-ness.org/candidates.html that is reputed to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland and elsewhere, though its description varies from one account to the next.

Popular interest and belief in the animal has fluctuated since it was brought to the world's attention in 1933. Evidence of its existence is anecdotal, with minimal and much-disputed photographic material and sonar readings. The scientific community regards the Loch Ness Monster as a modern-day myth, and explains sightings as a mix of hoaxes and wishful thinking. Despite this, it remains one of the most famous examples of cryptozoology. The legendary monster has been affectionately referred to by the nickname NessieA familiar form of the girl's name Agnes, relatively common in Scotland, e.g. the Daily Mirror 4 August 1932 reports the wedding of "Miss Nessie Clark, a Banffshire schoolteacher" () since the 1950s.

:This article is about the aquatic creature from Celtic mythology; for the the Australian dog breed, see Australian kelpie.

Category: File - :Thekelpie large.jpg|thumb|260px|right| The kelpie by Herbert James Draper

The kelpie is a supernatural water horse from Celtic folklore that is believed to haunt the rivers and lochs of Scotland and Ireland.