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 A sea serpent is a mythological sea monster either
wholly or partly serpentine.
Sightings have been reported for hundreds of years, and recent work
by Bruce Champagne identifies more than 1,200 purported sea serpent
sightings. Sea serpents have been seen from both ship and shore, and
by multiple people at once, and sometimes by reputable scientists.
Despite the numerous sightings, no credible physical evidence has
been recorded and it is believed by many scientists that the animals
can be best explained as misidentification of known animals such as
whales.
Some people have suggested that the sea serpents are relict
plesiosaurs, mosasaurs or other Mesozoic marine reptiles, a theory
often associated with lake monsters such as the Loch Ness Monster or
Lake Champlain's Champ.
In
Norse mythology, Jörmungandr, or "Midgårdsormen" was a sea serpent
so long that it encircled the entire world, Midgard. Some stories
report of sailors mistaking its back for a chain of islands. Sea
serpents also appear frequently in later Scandinavian folklore,
particularly in that of Norway. In Swedish
ecclesiastic and writer Olaus Magnus's Carta marina, many
marine monsters of varied form, including an immense sea serpent,
appear. Moreover, in his 1555 work History of the Northern Peoples,
Magnus gives the following description of a Norwegian sea serpent: Those who sail up along the coast of Norway to
trade or to fish, all tell the remarkable story of how a serpent of
fearsome size, 200 feet long and 20 feet wide, resides in rifts and
caves outside Bergen. On bright summer nights this serpent leaves
the caves to eat calves, lambs and pigs, or it fares out to the sea
and feeds on sea nettles, crabs and similar marine animals. It has
ell-long hair hanging from its neck, sharp black scales and flaming
red eyes. It attacks vessels, grabs and swallows people, as it lifts
itself up like a column from the water.
The Tanakh contains references to Leviathan and Rahab, both Biblical
sea serpents.
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