Sea-Monster

The Connecticut River Monster, as drawn by Steve Bissette, 2009, c.e.

The Carcass

Connecticut River Sea-Monster, unknown biological classification, embalmed aquatic/amphibious specimen. Wax and baling wire. Illuminated. Custodian and interpretive administrator: Gulgo Vandersheltz Bargain. Too much as already been both said and written about this piece. Mysterious in origin and somewhat contumacious in aspect, he—or she—remains one of the most popular exhibits in the Museum.

fa.1994.65.em (Pre-1997 catalog)

The Connecticut River Monster skeletal structure, as depicted by Mr. Scott Mardis. 2000, c.e.

Specific Dimensions

Reconstruction of the fleshy parts, by Scott Mardis, 2000, c.e.

Total length from tip of snout to end of tail: 8 ft., 5 inches.
Length of skull: 18 inches
Length of lower jaw: 15 inches
§12 teeth in upper jaw, 6 each side. 12 teeth in lower jaw, 6 each side.
Length of ears: 5 inches
Length of neck: 2 ft. 18 neck vertebrae
Length of torso: 1 ft., 8 inches, 14 torso vertebrae
Abdominal ribs, 6 pairs. Each rib 11.5 inches
Length of arm (humerus) bones: 8.5 inches
Shoulder girdle, foot and finger bones missing
Length of leg (femur) bones: 11 inches
§Foot and toe bones missing
Length of tail, 15 tail vertebrae: 4 ft., 9 inches
§Some of the teeth are missing but the above numbers are what would have been there if the carcass was complete.

Main Street Museum director David Fairbanks Ford describes the Connecticut River Sea-Monster in a lecture given at the University of Vermont, 2000, c.e.

Historic Background

Sea monster corpses have been reported since recent antiquity (Heuvelmans, 1968). Unidentified specimens are often called globsters, however the Main Street Museum much perfers the term carcass or specimen.

The aquatic fauna specimen netted by the Japanese trawler Zuiyo Maru off New Zealand caused a sensation in 1977 and was immortalized on a Brazilian postage stamp before it was suggested by the FBI to be the decomposing carcass of a basking shark. This creature, related to the plesiosaur species, shows similarities to a sea monster washed up on Fortune Bay, Newfoundland in August, 2001.

Another modern example of a sea monster was the strange creature washed up in Los Muermos on the Chilean sea shore in July, 2003. It was first described as a "mammoth jellyfish as long as a bus"

Cases of boneless, amorphic globsters are sometimes believed to be gigantic octopuses, but it has now been determined that theraspids dying at sea decompose in such a way that the blubber detaches from the body, forming featureless whitish masses that sometimes exhibit a hairy texture due to exposed strands of collagen fibers. The analysis of the Zuiyo Maru carcass revealed a comparable phenomenon and more firmly associating it with the aquatic mammalia of the Main Street Museum.

For as long as there have been fisher-folk, and contact with the ocean, there have been Sea Monsters.

Phylogeny

The "Sea Monster" preserved in the Main Street Museum collection cannot, obviously be referred to as a true Sea Monster, as it was discovered in the Connecticut River, near the White River, both fresh-water bodies. However, such nomenclature must be considered verbal shorthand. Our "River-Monster" has been determined to be of a close genetic kinship to "Champ" the Burlington, Vermont specimen, that "Lake-Monster" could be considered appropriate terminology.

Therapsida is a group of synapsids that include mammals and their immediate evolutionary ancestors. Called "half-mammals, half-amphibians" non-mammalian therapsids dating from the Early Cretaceous period show striking similarities to both the Connecticut River Monster and to scientific reconstructions of Champ.

Press

Read our first press release about the Beast!

Read about (and buy!) the Vermont Monster Guide here, from the University Press of New England, 2009. Cryptomundo is writing about the latest, best and brassiest book about Vermont Monsters!

Cover of the Vermont Monster Guide, University Press of New England, 2009.

References and Links

See Monsters as only a Master of Comics could draw them here at Steve Bissette's own htmlpage!