Loch Ness Monster: How 'unidentified’ DNA was found in Scottish Highland waters

THE MYSTERY of the so-called Loch Ness Monster may be one step closer to being solved after a scientist found “unidentified” DNA in the waters of the Scottish Highlands. Nessie is a folklore creature, said to inhabit the waters of Loch Ness, Scotland, and has gained worldwide attention for almost a century due to several bizarre sightings. It is often described as large in size with a long neck and one or more humps protruding from the water, yet physical evidence is scarce. The scientific community regards the Loch Ness Monster as a phenomenon without biological basis, explaining sightings as hoaxes, wishful thinking, and the misidentification of mundane objects.

But Dr Neil Gemmell, from the University of Otago, threw that opinion up in the air after his research team from New Zealand extracted genetic samples at different depths all over the loch in a bid to establish what lives within. The findings were bizarre, to say the least.

Dr Gemmell in 2019: “There is a very significant amount of eel DNA. “We can't discount the possibility that what people see and believe is the Loch Ness Monster might be a giant eel. “'Divers have claimed that they've seen eels that are as thick as their legs in the loch, whether they're exaggerating or not, I don't know, but there is a possibility that there are very large eels present in the loch.

"Whether they are as big as around four metres, as some of these sightings suggest, well, as a geneticist I think about mutations and natural variation a lot, and while an eel that big would be well outside the normal range, it seems not impossible that something could grow to such unusual size.”

However, Dr Gemmell also admitted 20 percent of the DNA came back as “unidentified”, leaving the possibility of an unknown creature living in the waters open.

Nessie hunters say that small “unidentified” amount, is enough to carry on the search.

Steve Feltham, who holds the Guinness World Record for the longest continuous vigil on the banks of Loch Ness told the Telegraph in 2019: “I’ll keep looking.