| Description |
1 online resource (289 pages) : illustrations |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references. |
| Summary |
The Definitive Study and Solution to the Centuries-old Mystery of the World's Most Sighted Sea Serpent There is a long history of conflating sightings of unidentified marine objects (UMOs) as purported sea serpents. Most sightings are either of an extremely brief duration or made by a single observer, and thus often easy to dismiss. This is not the case, however, with respect to the so-called Gloucester Sea Serpent which frequented the Massachusetts and New York coasts during the early nineteenth century. Witnessed by hundreds of people for extended periods repeatedly over many days, the Gloucester UMO is the most sighted 'sea serpent' in history. As well, due to being the object of study at the time and shortly thereafter by naturalists, the mysterious creature remains the most thoroughly investigated of all putative sea serpents. For these reasons, it has achieved an exalted status among cryptozoologists who maintain it represents the best evidence for the existence of sea serpents. For the first time, an eminently qualified aquatic biologist and ethnozoologist presents the definitive history of the phenomena and carefully examines the evidence. It is concluded that the most parsimonious explanation behind the Gloucester Sea Serpent is as early evidence for what is today recognized as being one of the most serious threats to marine biodiversity: entanglement in fishing gear and other maritime debris. Therefore, although widely considered to be restricted to the advent and widespread use of non-degradable plastic in the middle of the twentieth century, this new interpretation of the Gloucester UMO suggests that entanglement has a much longer environmental history than is commonly believed. Robert L. France is a world-renowned scientist at Dalhousie University and the author or editor of twenty books and two hundred papers on a wide range of environmental subjects. He has undertaken conservation biology research from the High Arctic to the tropics, on organisms from bacteria to whales, which has been cited many thousands of times in the literature. Dr. France is a leading authority on many aspects of aquatic zoology, including marine ecology and ethnozoology, and may be the most qualified person to have recently undertaken research and published peer-reviewed articles on the beguiling and befuddling topic of aquatic mystery animals, known as 'cryptids'. |
| Contents |
Intro; Contents; Literary epigraph; PREFACE; THE SEA SERPENT AS ENDURING MYSTERY; Acknowledgements; Chapter 1. BACKGROUND; 1.1 SEA SERPENTS AND NATURAL HISTORY; 1.2 SEA SERPENTS AND CRYPTOZOOLOGY; 1.3 SEA SERPENTS AND FORENSIC HISTORICAL ECOLOGY AND ETHNOZOOLOGY; Chapter 2. NINETEENTH-CENTURY MARITIME CONTEXT; 2.1 THE ECO-CULTURAL SEASCAPE; 2.2 THE TOWN BUILT BY FISH; 2.3 THE GREAT NEW ENGLAND SEA SERPENT; Chapter 3. CULTURAL HISTORY OF THE GLOUCESTER SEA SERPENT; 3.1 HAPPENINGS; 3.2 INVESTIGATIONS; 3.3 HUMILIATION; 3.4 HISTORIOGRAPHY; 3.5 IMAGINATION |
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Chapter 4. NATURAL HISTORY OF THE GLOUCESTER SEA SERPENT4.1 'SO INTERESTING A LINK IN THE CHAIN OF ANIMATED BEINGS'; 4.1.1 Eyewitness accounts; 4.1.2 Anecdotal analyses; 4.1.3 Assembling the composite cryptid; 4.2 'THE MOST INTERESTING PROBLEM IN THE SCIENCE OF NATURAL HISTORY'; 4.2.1 To catch a serpent ... but then, perhaps not; 4.2.2 The controversy ... 'But for a tuna, Richard, a tuna!'; Chapter 5. INTERPRETIVE HISTORY OF THE GLOUCESTER SEA SERPENT; 5.1 NATURAL HISTORY AND ILLATION; 5.2 CRYPTOZOOLOGY AND CONFIRMATION BIAS; 5.3 CONSERVATION BIOLOGY AND INCONVENIENT TRUTHS |
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5.3.1 Inanimate illusion or real object?5.3.2 Multiple animals or single creature?; 5.3.3 Giant serpent or something else?; 5.3.4 Serpentine body biological or inanimate?; 5.3.5 'Body' a single serpentine object or formed by component parts?; 5.3.6 Natural phenomena or anthropogenic artifact?; 5.4 CANDIDATE SCREENING AND ATTEMPTS AT A TENTATIVE IDENTIFICATION OF THE ENTANGLED MARINE ANIMAL; 5.4.1 What the observed characteristics of the 'head' can tell us; 5.4.2 What the displayed locomotory behaviour can tell us; 5.4.3 What the observed estimated swimming speed can tell us |
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5.4.4 What the observed location of the sightings can tell us5.4.5 What the observed phenology of the sightings can tell us; 5.5 LINGERING QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE NATURE OF THE BEAST; Literary hypograph and final note; A final note on the elusive nature of sea serpents; APPENDIX 1; Visiting the Gloucester Sea Serpent at Age Two Hundred; APPENDIX 2; Sea Serpents: 'The Best Explanation Yet' |
| Local Note |
eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America |
| Subject |
Sea monsters -- Massachusetts -- Gloucester.
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Sea monsters -- Atlantic Coast (U.S.)
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Cryptozoology.
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Marine debris.
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SCIENCE -- Life Sciences -- Zoology -- General. |
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Cryptozoology |
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Marine debris |
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Sea monsters |
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Massachusetts -- Gloucester https://id.oclc.org/worldcat/entity/E39PBJpjhHqVWXf8BKcBfFdPcP |
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United States -- Atlantic Coast |
| ISBN |
9789086868865 (electronic bk.) |
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908686886X (electronic bk.) |
| Standard No. |
10.3920/978-90-8686-886-5 |
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