Sonar readings revealed “several seriously big underwater objects,” of unknown species

Sep 24, 2012 12:54 GMT  ·  By

Associate Professor of Biogeography Lyudmila Emeliyanova has used echo sounding devices to analyze the waters of Lake Labynkyr in Siberia, looking for proof of what the locals call “the Devil.”

The Devil is a large underwater creature allegedly spotted by locals in the lake. Also known as “Russia’s Loch Ness Monster,”it has become something of a myth, since many fishermen have said the giant creature made their boat capsize.

Reports described that these inexplicable events always happened on days with clear skies and no wind, and were caused by waves that started out of nowhere and seemed to make their way to their boats.

Lake Labynkyr is located near the town of Oymyakon, 5000 km from Moscow, the capital city of Russia. With a population of 472, Oymyakon is known for being the oldest permanently inhabited area on the face of the earth, according to Wikipedia.

Although every other lake in the area is frozen most of the year and used as an ice skating ring in winter, Lake Labynkyr never freezes. Even though plants grow on the bottom of the lake, the fish population in Labynkyr is abundant.

Sonar readings of the lake revealed “several seriously big underwater objects,” the professor stated.

“I can't say we literally found and touched something unusual there but we did register with our echo sounding device several seriously big underwater objects, bigger than a fish, bigger than even a group of fish.”

She describes coming across a large living animal that didn't have the features of a fish. She cannot explain the presence of the large animal in the lake or tell what species it belongs to.

“The object was very dense, of homogeneous structure, surely not a fish nor a shoal of fish, and it was above the bottom. I was very surprised but not scared and not shocked, after all we did not see this animal, we only registered a strange object in the water. But I can clearly say - at the moment, as a scientist, I cannot offer you any explanation of what this object might be.”

Previous research had reached a similar dead end. In 2006, scientists using a Hummingbird Piranha MAX 215 Portable fish-finder were able to capture footage of an unusual “shadow.”

“We registered a shadow some 15-17 meters under our boat, it was about 6.5 meters long. It was pretty clear, it was not a fish and not a tree. There cannot be fish that big, and a log would have been registered in a different way. How can it swim under the water?,” reports described.