With the recent news that a fossil discovery could support that the idea of a freshwater plesiosaur, we take a look at one of the more plausible theories as to what Nessie could actually be.
Recently, researchers from the University of Bath discovered fossils of small plesiosaurs in a 100-million-year-old river system now part of the Sahara, with some Loch Ness Monster believers taking it as proof that freshwater species of the marine dinosaur could in fact exist.
For decades the most recognisable images of the monster have featured the classic plesiosaur shape with a hump, long neck and tiny head. However, scientists who have actually studied the famous loch itself have a very different creature in mind for solving the mystery.
The team of researchers from New Zealand ruled out the possibility of any kind of dinosaur descendant in the loch in 2019, when they attempted to document all creatures living there through taking DNA samples from the water.
Suggestions that the monster could be a prehistoric creature or a large stray sturgeon fish have been cast aside as a result of the findings.
The University of Otago's Professor Neil Gemmell, a geneticist, told the BBC at the time: "People love a mystery, we've used science to add another chapter to Loch Ness' mystique.
"We can't find any evidence of a creature that's remotely related to that in our environmental-DNA sequence data.
"So, sorry, I don't think the plesiosaur idea holds up based on the data that we have obtained."
Some people believe the monster could have been a stray shark, but there is no scientific evidence of this either, the professor explained.
He said: "So there's no shark DNA in Loch Ness based on our sampling.
"There is also no catfish DNA in Loch Ness based on our sampling. We can't find any evidence of sturgeon either."
They did offer up a possible suspect for the sightings of the beast, stating that it could be a giant eel, with eels common throughout the loch.
Gemmell said: "There is a very significant amount of eel DNA. Eels are very plentiful in Loch Ness, with eel DNA found at pretty much every location sampled - there are a lot of them. So - are they giant eels?
"Well, our data doesn't reveal their size, but the sheer quantity of the material says that we can't discount the possibility that there may be giant eels in Loch Ness.
"Therefore we can't discount the possibility that what people see and believe is the Loch Ness Monster might be a giant eel."
For almost 100 years, ever since the famous sighting by a couple travelling near the loch in 1933, there have been theories with everything from trapped giant turtles and descendants of dinosaurs to circus elephants bathing and even a whale's penis being offered up as explanations.
What do you think the Loch Ness Monster is? Let us know below.
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