Queen of Nagas
The Mister was so interested to know the story behind this picture as he had heard that the legend of this naga / oarfish being caught by american army and after eating it, each one of them died.
The fact is, after so much researching, it is a Myth.
This picture was extracted from the news in 1996.
Don't bother to enlarge the image, read below:
"SEALS find serpent of the sea: Look, on the beach! It's a bird, it's a plane, it's... a fish? Twenty-three feet long and more than four feet in circumference, this image from a 1950's horror film weighs in at 300 pounds. And it's dead as a doornail.
The silvery serpent of the sea - an oarfish - was discovered last year by Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) Instructor Signalman 2nd Class (SEAL) Kevin Blake. The oarfish has large, saucer-shaped eyes and a raised, red, elongated dorsal fin along the upper ridge of its spine. At the time of the find, Blake was leading students on a beach run at the Naval Special Warfare Center, Coronado, Calif. "It was unlike anything I had ever seen before," said Blake. "It looked like some sort of prehistoric throwback." Scripps Institution was notified of the find.
Although this specimen was dead, it was a rare find. The University of California, San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, has only been able to collect four specimens of the undersea giant.
Scripps' Senior Museum Scientist H.J. Walker came to the site and removed the creature's head and tail for anatomical study. He speculated on the death of the fish, saying it probably met its maker after an encounter with the propeller of a boat. (JR. Comm. - nothing to do with having a SEAL Basic Underwater Demolition Team in the area then!)
Walker dared the BUD/S trainees to sample their find, knowing well that oarfish, when cooked, tastes like paper. He tried eating it himself when an oarfish was caught in some fishing nets of the Southern California coast a decade ago.
According to Walker, the oarfish is harmless, eating only small shrimp and living in depths of up to 700 feet in warm tropical water. Oarfish average between 20 and 30 feet long when fully grown.
"Because of its look and size, this is a fish that gives rise to the sea serpent image." Walker said.
Records have a 56-foot long serpent like creature found on a Scotland beach in 1808. It's believed to have been an oarfish.
Story By JOSN John Carstens
photos by LT DeeDee Van Wormer."
The silvery serpent of the sea - an oarfish - was discovered last year by Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) Instructor Signalman 2nd Class (SEAL) Kevin Blake. The oarfish has large, saucer-shaped eyes and a raised, red, elongated dorsal fin along the upper ridge of its spine. At the time of the find, Blake was leading students on a beach run at the Naval Special Warfare Center, Coronado, Calif. "It was unlike anything I had ever seen before," said Blake. "It looked like some sort of prehistoric throwback." Scripps Institution was notified of the find.
Although this specimen was dead, it was a rare find. The University of California, San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, has only been able to collect four specimens of the undersea giant.
Scripps' Senior Museum Scientist H.J. Walker came to the site and removed the creature's head and tail for anatomical study. He speculated on the death of the fish, saying it probably met its maker after an encounter with the propeller of a boat. (JR. Comm. - nothing to do with having a SEAL Basic Underwater Demolition Team in the area then!)
Walker dared the BUD/S trainees to sample their find, knowing well that oarfish, when cooked, tastes like paper. He tried eating it himself when an oarfish was caught in some fishing nets of the Southern California coast a decade ago.
According to Walker, the oarfish is harmless, eating only small shrimp and living in depths of up to 700 feet in warm tropical water. Oarfish average between 20 and 30 feet long when fully grown.
"Because of its look and size, this is a fish that gives rise to the sea serpent image." Walker said.
Records have a 56-foot long serpent like creature found on a Scotland beach in 1808. It's believed to have been an oarfish.
Story By JOSN John Carstens
photos by LT DeeDee Van Wormer."
So, one of them(in the picture) spotted the picture being distributed and pointed himself out of the picture and many find it hard to believe as they claimed that the picture was taken in 1973 and the man who pointed himself out looks exactly like how he was like in the picture. Meaning, they all did not die after eating the fish!
And so, who was the one who started this so called "legend". I wonder.