(NEW YORK) — A scientist who has collected DNA from Scotland’s Loch Ness suggests the lake’s fabled monster might be a giant eel.
Neil Gemmell, from the University of Otago in New Zealand, says the project found a surprisingly high amount of eel DNA in the water.
He cautioned, though, that it’s not clear whether that indicates a gigantic eel or just a lot of little ones. But he said at a news conference in Scotland on Thursday that the idea of a giant eel is at least plausible.
The DNA project found no evidence to support the notion that the monster is a long-necked ancient reptile called a plesiosaur.
Loch Ness is the largest and second deepest body of fresh water in the British Isles.