Mysterious Creatures : A Guide to Cryptozoology

CAPTAIN HANNA’S FISH, an odd fish caught off New Harbor, Maine, in 1880 by Captain S. W. Hanna. (U.S. Fish
Commission)
Captain Hanna’s Fish
Odd, eellike Fish of the North Atlantic Ocean.
Physical description: Serpentine. Length, 25
feet; 10 inches thick at the largest part. Darkish
slate color on top, grayish-white below. Flat head
that extends over a small mouth with sharp
teeth. Prominent gill slits. Two small, rayed pectoral
fins and a triangular rayed dorsal fin behind
the head. A caudal fin extends around the tail.
Significant sighting: In August 1880, Capt. S.
W. Hanna caught a fish of this description off
New Harbor, Maine, but discarded it because it
had torn his net.
Distribution: Gulf of Maine.
Possible explanations:
(1) Unknown species of elongated shark,
perhaps a large form of the Frilled shark
(Chlamydoselachus anguineus), suggested by
Bernard Heuvelmans. The Frilled shark
grows to over 6 feet in length and lives in
deep waters near the sea floor, primarily in
the eastern Atlantic, though three individuals
have been recorded in the western Atlantic.
It is the only shark to have a mouth that
opens at the tip of the snout. However,
sharks do not have rayed fins. Larger
varieties may exist. David Stead examined
the skull and vertebrae of a 12-foot fish that
washed up in the harbor at Sydney,
Australia, in August 1907 and identified it as
a Frilled shark, though double the length of
the largest known specimens.
(2) Unknown species of bony fish,
suggested by Ben Roesch, based on its lack
of pelvic fins, and the position of the dorsal
fin.
Sources: S. W. Hanna, “Description of an
Eel-Like Creature Taken in a Net at New
Harbor, Maine, in 1880,” Bulletin of the U.S.
Fish Commission 3 (1883): 407–410; David G.
86 CAPTAIN HANNA’S FISH
Stead, Sharks and Rays of Australian Seas
(Sydney, Australia: Angus and Robertson,
1963).
Carabuncle
Freshwater Monster of Ireland, as well as a
mysterious South American animal.
Etymology: From the Latin carbunculus
(“gem”).
Physical description: Serpentine. Said to have a
shining, precious stone or a pearl hanging from
its head that glitters like silver in the night.
Behavior: Nocturnal.
Distribution: Lough Geal, on Mount Brandon,
County Kerry, Ireland; the Straits of Magellan,
Argentina; Paraguay.
Sources: Gonzalo Fernándo de Oviedo y
Valdés, Natural History of the West Indies,
trans. Sterling A. Stoudemire [1526] (Chapel
Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
1959); Martín del Barco Centenera, The
Argentine and the Conquest of the River Plate
[1602] (Buenos Aires: Instituto Cultural
Walter Owen, 1965); Charles Smith, The
Antient and Present State of the County of Kerry
(Dublin: Charles Smith, 1756), p. 124; Henry
Hart, “Notes on the Plants of Some of the
Mountain Ranges of Ireland,” Proceedings of
the Royal Irish Academy, Science, ser. 2, 4
(1884): 211, 220; Nathaniel Colgan, “Field
Notes on the Folklore of Irish Plants and
Animals,” Irish Naturalist 23 (March 1914):
53–64.
Caribbean Crowing Snake
Unknown Snake of the West Indies.
Physical description: Length, 4 feet. Thick
body. Dull ochre color with dark spots. Pale red
pyramidal crest like a rooster. Scarlet wattles.