All language subtitles for In.Search.Of.S02E01.The.Loch.Ness.Monster.Part.I.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-Kitsune_track3_[eng]

Quinto: For centuries,
the highlands of Scotland

have provided
a stunning backdrop

to one of the world's
most enduring mysteries...

a terrifying creature

that's been spotted
beneath these tranquil waters

thousands of times, but still
remains unidentified...

the Loch Ness Monster.

Is it simply a legend

or a case of mass hysteria,

or could it be much more?

Is a massive creature
actually lurking in the depths?

To find out, we'll compare

decades of encounters
across Northern Europe...

and use modern science

to create a brand-new profile
of the beast

with help from the world's
top aquatic experts.

What might we discover?

Could Nessie possibly exist
in some form?

Could it even be a new,
never-before-seen species?

Go!

Quinto: And, if so,
could we potentially find it

and have an up-close encounter
of our own?

Tonight, we dive deep

in search of
the Loch Ness Monster.

Oh! There's the bubbles!
There's the bubbles!

He's getting ready to come up.

You've probably heard
this one before.

If a tree falls in the woods
and no one is around to hear it,

does it make a sound?

What about this?

If a monstrous creature

swims across the surface
of a Scottish loch

and no one takes a picture,
was it ever really there?

For over 1,400 years,

according to thousands
of eyewitnesses,

the answer is yes.

All of them saw something emerge
from the depths of Loch Ness.

The question is, what was it?

Whatever it is,
it's certainly camera-shy.

But that doesn't mean
that Nessie can't be identified.

In fact, we actually have

a large pool of information
to draw from.

We have first-person encounters,
recorded histories,

and even some pictures
and video.

We have known species
with similar characteristics

that we can study
for clues to Nessie's behavior.

Add it all up,

and perhaps we can build
a profile of the monster

to find out once and for all

if the legend
could possibly be true.

With that goal in mind,
let's start with a man

who says he's
actually seen the beast.

Retired engineer Gordon Holmes
is one of the few people

who claims to have captured
the Loch Ness Monster on camera.

He's taking us to the exact spot
at the water's edge

where his life changed forever.

I saw the monster
at 10 minutes to 10:00

on the 26th of May, 2007.

Quinto:
Despite years spent waiting,

Gordon remained determined
to see the Loch Ness Monster,

and, on this day,

his persistence
finally paid off.

I'd been there
for a few hours,

and then suddenly I saw
something coming towards me.

I immediately reached
over the back seat

and grabbed my camcorder.

I dashed out, slammed the door,

and then suddenly I realized

that's not what you're
supposed to do.

I've read that, if you--

if you see
a p-potential monster,

don't slam the door,
'cause that'll frighten it.

So I then ran down
to the edge of the lay-by

and realized i-it's disappeared.
Where's it gone?

And then suddenly
I saw it over to the right,

and immediately
I got the camcorder

and zoomed in to its position.

For the next, uh, 2 1/2 minutes,
I was privileged

to one of the most amazing
sights I've ever seen.

Quinto: As you can see
from Gordon's footage,

there is most definitely
some type of large animal

swimming across the loch.

But what could it be?

This thing was, like,
bubbling along the waves,

At no point did it
break through the surface

of this streamline water flow.

Quinto: The creature
appears to be moving

in a serpentine fashion,

almost slithering
through the water.

Based on the species
known to inhabit Loch Ness,

one might conclude
that this is an eel.

But when you analyze the video
more carefully,

the eel theory seems unlikely.

I read somewhere that,
if you ever get

a sighting
of something like this,

you should zoom in and out,
uh, so that they're able--

the people that analyze
the footage can always

then estimate the size
of whatever the creature was,

and, at the same time, you can
prove it's not like a fake,

because you've seen it
in context.

Quinto: In context,
the animal appears to be

at least 15 feet long,

much larger than
any freshwater eel species

and, therefore, potentially
something completely unknown.

It's certainly going
at speed into the waves.

It wasn't some sort of log.

This was a creature
that had energy. It had power.

It was thrusting
through the waves.

Quinto: In addition
to the creature's length,

experts were able to determine
that it was moving

at a top speed
of six miles per hour.

This is probably
the best footage up to this time

of the so-called
Loch Ness Monster.

I realized
this was a turning point

in the history
of the Loch Ness Monster.

Quinto: But Gordon
is still unsatisfied.

He hopes to eventually have
another encounter

with the creature,
and, this time,

he plans to be ready
with even better equipment.

If money was no object,
I-I'd have me own research boat

with underwater
robotic vehicles.

Quinto: Meanwhile, Gordon
has purchased a hydrophone

to pick up sound signatures
in the water,

a sky camera
carried by helium balloons

as a makeshift drone,

and a magnetometer.

In order to understand
Nessie's environment,

should she exist, uh,
you need to delve into

all the parameters possible,
the variables in the equation.

Quinto: But science alone

may not be enough
to catch a second glimpse.

Gordon believes it will take
some luck as well.

Quinto: But of course
Gordon Holmes' sighting

is only a small part
of a much longer history

for this unknown species.

If we want to solve the mystery
of the Loch Ness Monster,

we'll have to go back
a whole lot further.

The Loch Ness Monster
was first written about

in 565 AD,
in the story of St. Columba,

an Irish monk who was traveling

along the banks
of the River Ness

when he happened
upon a man's funeral.

The townspeople explained
that the man had been swimming

when he was attacked
and killed by a "water beast."

At that time,
people most likely believed

this "water beast" was a dragon.

But as the centuries passed,

people stopped
believing in dragons.

Yet the sightings continued,

all in the same area
and all eerily similar,

a massive unidentified animal
churning up the water

as it swims across the lake.

This was no mythical creature.

This was no dragon.

Witnesses confirmed that,

whatever it was,
it was very real.

Local pubs were full of stories
of the mysterious beast.

But the legend
of the Loch Ness Monster

wasn't taken seriously
until 1933...

when a reputable
law enforcement officer,

Loch Ness
Water Bailiff Alex Campbell,

spotted the monster
multiple times.

What's the most you've ever
seen of it at any one sighting?

The best view I ever had
was the very first one.

I saw the head, the neck,
and the huge body

which I'd say was
about 30 feet long.

The skin was exactly
like that of an elephant,

wrinkly, tough-looking.

Is it not possible,
Mr. Campbell,

- that you're mistaken in this?
- Not at all.

Quinto: When all
of this evidence is combined,

it seems that there
actually might be

a large, unidentified species
in Loch Ness.

Monster or not, we can start
to use this information

to build a profile and
find out for ourselves.

Campbell described a beast
30 feet from end to end,

with a 4-foot-high body

and a wavy, narrow neck
stretching 12 feet long.

After years of vague
descriptions and tall tales,

this was the first
highly detailed account

of the alleged creature

that would soon be dubbed
the Loch Ness Monster.

And, just a few months later,

an even
more spectacular bombshell

fueled Nessie fever
around the world.

On April 21st, 1934,
London's "Daily Mail"

published what it claimed
was the first photograph

ever taken
of the Loch Ness Monster.

Quinto: Sightings of Scotland's
famed Loch Ness Monster

have been reported
since the sixth century.

But it wasn't
until April 21st, 1934,

that the search
for the creature truly took off.

And it was all thanks to this.

Known as
the "surgeon's photograph,"

the picture was snapped
by London gynecologist

Robert Kenneth Wilson
while out for a lakeside walk...

and published in London's
"Daily Mail" newspaper.

The image appears to show
a silhouetted figure

with a long, slender neck,
a small head,

and a large body that's
obscured by the waterline.

Immediately after
the photo was published,

the British public
began speculating

on the nature
of this mysterious beast.

What could this photo
possibly depict?

Some suggested
it was the dorsal fin

of a dolphin or whale.

Others thought it might be
a submerged elephant

raising its trunk to breathe.

A circus had recently
visited the area,

giving more strength
to this theory.

But the most popular belief

may also have been
the most far-fetched.

Many thought this was a creature

that had been extinct
for millions of years.

It's a theory that continued

for decades after the photo
was first published.

So what particular species
do you think it is?

The evidence
as I interpret it all fits--

and I know this is
a fantastic statement,

but this all fits plesiosaur.

Quinto: Could it be possible
that the plesiosaur,

thought to have died out
with the dinosaurs,

had actually survived,
only to end up here in Scotland?

Before you decide for yourself,

there's one thing
you should know.

This first iconic image...

was a hoax.

In 1994, 60 years after it

was first published
in the "Daily Mail,"

the true story of the photograph
came to light.

The newspaper hired big-game
hunter Marmaduke Wetherell

to find evidence
of the monster.

Instead, he created a model
of a beast with a long neck,

and attached it
to a toy submarine.

He then chose
a trustworthy physician,

Dr. R. Kenneth Wilson,

to deliver the photograph
of his creation,

and the rest is history.

But that one hoax

doesn't explain
countless other sightings

and more recent
photo and video evidence

that has yet to be disproven.

In 1955, Peter MacNab
captured this image.

In the 1970s,
an American scientist

shot this underwater photograph

depicting
a 30-foot-long flipper,

and of course we have the 2007
footage from Gordon Holmes.

None of these sightings
provide definitive proof

of the Loch Ness Monster's
existence,

but they do suggest
the possibility

that some large species
might be lurking there.

The question is,
what species could it be?

Can we build a profile
to potentially identify it?

First of all,
Gordon Holmes described

an eel-like aspect
to the front of the creature.

His video shows
that it can hold itself up

near the surface
for an extended period,

with a cruising speed
of six miles per hour.

Therefore,
something below the water

is propelling it upwards
as well as forwards...

most likely the flippers
seen in this image.

Unfortunately, this small amount
of visual evidence

can't tell us much else,

but we do know one more
key piece of information

that's crucial to our profile.

We know that,
if this species exists,

it has managed to elude capture
for more than 1,400 years

in these Scottish waterways.

Local Water Bailiff Chris Conroy
thinks he knows

how an animal
could manage to stay undetected

for so long
in these unique conditions.

Loch Ness contains
as much water

as all the rivers and lakes
in England and Wales combined.

It's the largest water body
in the whole of the UK.

It's absolutely massive.

Really hard to comprehend
just how big this loch is.

Um, it runs from east to west,

It's a total
of about 23 miles long.

It averages about a mile wide,
and it's about 750 feet deep.

If you look
at the shape of the loch,

you've got
these really steep sides.

The tops of the hills here

are about the same height up
as the depth of the loch,

and they go straight down
on the edges, very, very steep,

and they--as you hit
the bottom of the loch,

it becomes very flat,
very full of sediment,

and you get
this sort of bathtub shape.

Quinto: In other words,

there's plenty of room
in Loch Ness to hide.

And, even if someone were
to search beneath the water,

they wouldn't survive long.

Loch Ness features a phenomenon
called a thermocline,

which causes deadly conditions
as you dive down.

It's a stratification
of temperature,

so as you go down
into the water column

a relatively short distance,

you suddenly hit
a temperature barrier,

and there will be a significant
change in--in water temperature,

up to maybe around 10 degrees.

Um, this affects
the chemistry underneath,

so if you are--if you're
to go underneath that barrier,

you'll suddenly become
very, very cold.

Quinto:
Even at the loch's surface,

the average water temperature
is 42 degrees Fahrenheit.

Beneath the thermocline,

without the protection
of a modern dry-suit,

a diver could drown
in under six minutes.

And those freezing temperatures

are paired
with near-blackout conditions.

So it's an absolutely perfect
place for something to hide.

It's--It's very difficult
to see anything.

The water is very peaty,
as we call it.

Now, the peat is basically br--

organic matter
that's breaking down.

It's washed into the rivers,

and that comes,
flows into the loch,

and you end up with this
really dark tea-colored water.

Okay, let's do a little bit
of a test here

just to show you
what the water's like in here.

So I've got a--
a standard whiskey glass.

We'll just pop it in the water
here, just in the top.

You can see how clear it is,
but don't let that fool you,

because, as you get deeper down,

you'll see the--
the color change.

If you were to go just
a-a little bit further down

or towards the bottom, it would
start to look more like this.

You can see it's much
more tea-like in color,

and it's all the organic matter
that's broken-down leaves

and other plant material
that's washed down the rivers

and creates
this really dark color.

Quinto:
While that unique water color

makes the alleged monster
hard to find,

it also gives us
a significant clue

to its possible appearance.

If it can stay undetected
in these conditions,

it must have
a natural camouflage.

Nessie's skin
has often been portrayed

as flat gray or bright green.

But, in fact,
it much more likely matches

the tea-like appearance
of the surrounding water,

a mottled brownish color.

But if we hope to identify
the Loch Ness Monster,

knowing its color
won't be enough.

Quinto: At 750 feet deep
and 23 miles long...

near-blackout conditions
below the water,

and average surface temperatures
of 42 degrees,

Loch Ness is
an incredibly challenging place

to track down
an unknown species.

But, if we hope to identify
the Loch Ness Monster,

at some point,
we'll have to dive in.

Fortunately, before we do,

footage from several
underwater cameras

can give us a preview of
what lives beneath the surface.

A surprising number of species
thrive in the loch,

even at its maximum depth
of 750 feet.

We've got trout, brown trout.

We've got arctic char.
We've got eels.

We've got lamprey species, um,
and then we've got other species

which have been seen here,
which include, uh,

in the records of sturgeon,
northern pike, and perch.

Addition to the fish, mammals
follow the fish into the river,

and we regularly get seals
living in Loch Ness,

particularly the common,
or harbor seal,

and it's an easy
food source for them.

Quinto: And could it also be

a food source
for something else?

Could the loch's population
of trout, arctic char,

pike, eels, and lamprey
possibly be enough

to feed a large predator
all year round?

It sounds like there's a lot,

but actually, given the--
the depth and the size of it,

there isn't as much as a density
of food as you might think.

The fish are generally focused
in key areas.

There are
quite a few fish in here,

but there's also
a lot of nothing as well.

But, two times a year,

the situation drastically
changes, and Loch Ness

becomes a veritable
all-you-can-eat buffet...

all thanks
to the Atlantic salmon

that return to these waters

in large numbers
annually to spawn.

The salmon migrate
up from--from the sea,

and, uh, they use the loch
as a refuge for them.

It's a nice--
'cause it's so deep and dark,

they can hide in here,
and they generally need

a nice flow of fresh water,
so they'll--

you'll quite often find them
at the mouths of rivers,

where they--they're waiting
to migrate upstream to spawn.

They're packing on
these nutrients,

and, by the time
they return to the river,

they're--they're really fit,
healthy, fat fish.

Quinto: Would this
be enough food

for a large predator
like Nessie?

Chris hasn't seen
the monster yet,

but thinks it is
within the realm of possibility.

I've been here for six years,

so I've still got time
before I--to see something.

But I'll say my colleagues
don't rule anything out.

You do tend to see
some strange things

at strange times
of the day and night.

It does show you
that things can turn up

and things can appear
that you don't expect.

If Nessie exists,

then clearly it needs to eat
in incredibly large quantities.

The spring and
summer salmon migrations

would go a long way
towards sustaining the creature,

assuming it could somehow
live off that feeding frenzy

through the less-bountiful
fall and winter.

Sightings place Nessie

at between
30 and 50 feet in length.

For comparison,
consider the great white shark,

which is half as long and
averages 5,000 pounds in weight.

Nessie therefore
could tip the scales

at upwards of 10,000 pounds.

Based on a great white's diet,
to maintain that weight,

the Loch Ness Monster
would need to eat

around 250 pounds
of fish per day

during its feeding season
to sustain it through the year.

The creature's diet,
size, and weight

are crucial additions
to our profile,

especially when added
to our previous theories

on its coloring,
its movement speed,

and its partial
serpentlike appearance.

Quinto: Despite thousands
of sightings

and near-constant speculation
about the Loch Ness Monster,

there's still very little
agreement about its features

or where it might be found.

It's a problem that's been
frustrating Nessie hunters for decades.

We're not spending
all this time and money

trying to prove
that there's a large,

unidentified species
in Loch Ness.

We know that. We've seen it,

and we know it's here.

What we are trying to do now
is identify the species.

Quinto: Today
a brand-new profile is emerging,

which, once complete, could
help us finally find the beast.

But while most researchers

have focused their efforts
within the Scottish highlands,

they're ignoring
a key data source,

because, as it turns out,
this unknown species

might have a long-lost twin
outside the loch.

In the 17th century, a similar
creature began appearing here,

in northern Sweden's
Storsjon lake.

The Swedes call it
"The Great-Lake Monster."

In the eastern town
of Ostersund,

archaeologist Anders Hansson

has been studying
The Great-Lake Monster for years

and believes there is
a definite link to Loch Ness.

We know that people
have always been seeing

strange things in big waters,

and this is part of the Western
and Norwegian tradition

and even up to Scotland
that we have these sea serpents.

Quinto: There have been rumors
of an unknown underwater species

in Storsjon as far back
as the 11th century,

not long after rumors
of Nessie began.

One early description
was even recorded

on a viking relic
called the Froso Runestone

that has stood in Ostersund
since 1050.

As you can see,
it's got this great serpent,

this dragon on it,

and this is what is said
to be the first--

actual first picture and story
about The Great-Lake Monster.

Quinto: A similar timeline

isn't the only thing
these two creatures share.

Both Loch Ness and Storsjon
are cold, freshwater lakes,

and both feed directly into
the same common body of water,

the North Sea.

In other words,
a migratory aquatic species

could swim between both lakes.

Physical accounts
of the Swedish monster

also line up
with alleged Nessie sightings.

Hansson: People out fishing,

seeing--seeing something
in the lake.

Sometimes it's three meters.

Sometimes it's 15 meters long.

Quinto: Almost all the witnesses

describe the monster with
a long, sea-serpentlike body

and the head
of a dog or a horse.

Some of them
are quite dramatic,

talking about the speed
of the monster

and how the mouth of it was
so big that you could put down--

I mean your whole head
in the mouth of the monster.

- Ready to see the archives?
- Yeah.

We have it in the vault.

Quinto: Anders' colleague
Anna Engman keeps careful track

of hundreds
of written witness statements

at the Jamtli museum.

- This way.
- Quinto: Today she's agreed

to let us take a rare look
at some of them.

- Yeah, that's one.
- Here it is.

Great-Lake Monster.

Storsjoodjuret.

Okay. Is all this
about the monster, really?

Yeah, it's--
All this is about the monster.

So this is, uh,
lots of observations from--

dating from 1990s
until the late 18th century.

Okay.

And this one
is from around 1930.

She's telling this story about
how she--she saw the monster

when she was
doing the laundry by the lake,

and it was huge, and it
was gray and ugly, she said.

- Gray and ugly?
- Yeah, gray and ugly,

and she got so scared,
she--she ran away,

left the laundry
and ran away,

and, uh, when she turned around,
the--the monster was gone.

Okay.

Quinto: Many sightings
also describe a back

that is covered
in pointy finlike protrusions.

A man who's seen
the--the monster,

he's seen something black
with three--three bumps on it.

Oh, yeah. Here we can see.

Quinto: The museum
also keeps records

of attempts
to trap the monster,

like one in the 1890s

sponsored
by the King of Sweden, Oscar II.

We have this huge trap,
and it's said to come

from a company
that was established 1894,

and the reason for the company
was to catch the monster.

And this big trap was
supposed to be baited with a pig

and sunk down into the lake,

and, to guard it
and catch the monster,

they hired a Norwegian whaler,

because he could use
his harpoons.

Quinto: That early
capture attempt failed.

But the search
for the Swedish monster

continues today
on the south side of Storsjon.

Kurt Johnsson runs
the monster center there

that monitors
activity in the lake.

Uh, the center
was opened in 2012.

Here at the center,

we are searching
for The Great-Lake Monster.

During the summer with the boat,

during the nights with cameras,

and hopefully
that we're going to find it

and have it on picture.

That's the goal.

Quinto: Kurt and his team
set up two surface cameras,

two underwater,
a night-vision camera,

as well as one that's
sensitive to temperature.

Despite 24-hour surveillance,
they have yet to pick up

an adult specimen
of the creature,

but Kurt believes
he did see a younger one.

Many times,
we have seen something,

but actually we don't
know actually what it is,

but, one time,
we saw a little baby

from The Great-Lake Monster,
and it was posing up like this

in the end of the picture,
like Loch Ness.

If one is willing to believe
in the Loch Ness Monster,

there's no reason to doubt

Sweden's accounts
of The Great-Lake Monster.

Perhaps its features
can help add to our profile.

Witnesses in Sweden

have managed to spot
two more key details.

First, the addition of fins
along the creature's back.

No Scottish sighting
has been clear enough

to make this determination.

Second, the Swedes
describe a head

that resembles a dog or a horse.

While it's unlikely
to be covered in fur,

it does change our concept
of the skull's shape,

indicating that Nessie's head

could taper into
a longer, thinner contour,

not unlike a dog's snout.

So what do we have here?

Two similar creatures
spotted along similar timelines,

both in large, cold,
northern freshwater lakes,

and, what's more,
these two lakes

are directly linked
via the North Sea.

If the Swedish and
Scottish monsters are related

or even the same species,

it raises
a frightening possibility.

Perhaps the Loch Ness Monster

isn't trapped
in the loch at all.

Quinto: For over 1,400 years,

people have struggled
to identify

the mysterious creature
known as the Loch Ness Monster.

While definitive proof
of the monster's existence

has yet to be found,
it's clear that something big

has been spotted
multiple times.

Could it potentially be a new,
still-undiscovered species?

In our quest
to profile the animal,

we've just made
a shocking discovery...

another creature,

described as
nearly identical to Nessie,

allegedly living 750 miles away
in Sweden's Storsjon lake.

This is a potential game-changer

in our quest to identify
the Loch Ness Monster.

Is it possible that Nessie
is part of a migratory species?

If so, what does this mean

about its behaviors
and appearance?

Believe it or not,

the answers may lie
3,500 miles from the loch

on the James River in Virginia,

where ecologist Dr. Matt Balazik

has been studying another
migratory species for 12 years.

We're at the VCU
Rice Rivers Center

on the James River
in Richmond, Virginia,

and we're gonna be going after

some spring
adult Atlantic Sturgeon.

Atlantic sturgeon are
the perfect species to study

to figure out what it would take

for an animal
to survive in Loch Ness.

Quinto: Atlantic sturgeon
cover a massive range.

While you can find them
here in Virginia,

they're also one
of the top migratory predators

in the North Sea near Scotland.

Just like
the alleged descriptions

of the Loch Ness Monster,

they're big,
they thrive in cold water,

and they're among
the most mysterious

and elusive hunters
in our waterways.

You could have a fish that's
12 feet long swimming under you,

and you'd never even know.

Quinto: Once common
in this area,

sturgeon hadn't been seen in
the James River in generations.

But then residents
began spotting signs

of a mysterious marine creature
in their midst.

People were seeing
these things,

but just quick glances,
and you're like,

"Wow, that was
some kind of monster."

And people's imaginations
get rolling.

My favorite was,
"Oh, there's mutant sharks."

Quinto: In 2007,
Matt caught the first sturgeon

in the area in decades

and finally identified
the unknown creature.

It was almost equivalent
of catching a unicorn.

It was an almost
6-foot-long fish,

uh, covered in armor,

and, uh, just something

you wouldn't even
think existed anymore,

and we had it
right there in front of us.

There was no if,
ands, or buts about it.

It was right there.

Quinto: Since then,
Matt and his team

have caught and tagged more
than 700 individual sturgeon,

using acoustic receivers

to track
their migratory movements.

So that's a fish.

Quinto: If he
can catch one today,

it could provide
critical new information

to help us identify the creature
hiding in Loch Ness.

Oh, there's the bubbles.
There's the bubbles.

He's getting ready to come up.

Quinto: As we continue to build

our profile
of the Loch Ness Monster,

we've zeroed in
on a compelling new theory.

What if the creature
is a migratory animal

with a range that stretches
far beyond the loch?

If that's the case,

another large migratory species,
the Atlantic sturgeon,

may hold clues
to Nessie's behavior.

Uh, we're getting ready
to pull in the first net.

There's the bubbles.
There's the bubbles.

He's getting ready to come up.
He's getting ready to come up.

Yeah, he's pulling. There he is.

Okay. Hold on.

Yeah, he's pulling.

- Good.
- All right, we're done.

Quinto: Despite this fish's
impressive length,

it's only
a medium-sized specimen.

We're just gonna measure it
down the length of its belly.

Okay?

This fish is
just, uh, over seven feet long,

but, um, historically
there are records

of them, uh,
twice as big as this,

and there's unofficial records
of 18 feet long.

These sturgeon also have
incredible life spans.

The biggest ones
can live over 100 years.

For our purposes,

as we try to identify
the Loch Ness Monster,

we need only ask one question.

What does it take for
a massive North Sea predator,

like the sturgeon
and like Nessie,

to survive for so long?

One possible explanation
is the sturgeon's

natural built-in armor plating.

This is the dorsal line
of scutes right here.

These are actually bone.
It's a cal--

It's a form of calcium phosphate
which is just like our bones,

and it's actually wrapped
all around the fish.

It's got 'em on the side,
and it has them on the belly.

This is pretty much
a suit of armor all around it.

Quinto: These bony plates,
called scutes,

have given the sturgeon
the ability to outgrow, outlive,

and outsurvive almost every
other species in the North Sea.

They are some
of the ultimate survivors.

240 million years ago is, I--
is the upper end

of when they-- when these fish
started to come around,

and these fish have persisted
that whole time.

The fact that this fish here
was dodging dinosaurs, that--

I think that's pretty awesome.

Quinto: According to Matt,

armored plates
much like the sturgeon's

could be a perfect explanation
for one of Nessie's key features

as described
by alleged eyewitnesses.

A lot of the sightings
in Loch Ness

are of, like, humps on the side.

Those could
potentially be scutes,

especially on a big sturgeon

when the scutes
will be really big

and the ridge
will be really tall.

Quinto: Is it possible
that the Loch Ness Monster's

famous humps along its back
aren't humps at all,

but instead are a series
of bony, armored plates?

The Atlantic sturgeon
may just have provided

an important clue in our search.

And other members
of the sturgeon family tree

could offer
even more useful information.

Atlantic sturgeon are
really just bottom feeders,

uh, eating bugs,

but there's a lot of other,
uh, sturgeon species,

like the belugas
and the white sturgeon,

that actually do
actively prey on fish,

and those sturgeon
actually get really big.

Quinto: As you can see
in this photo from 1903,

beluga sturgeon
have been documented

at nearly 30 feet long.

Considering their massive size,
body shape,

and ability to hide
and survive in cold, dark water,

the sturgeon is one of
the closest species we can study

to determine the behavior
and appearance

of the Loch Ness Monster.

Despite their 30-foot length,
beluga sturgeon can freely move

between fresh water
and salt water

while hunting their prey,

and sturgeon have been found
in both Loch Ness and in Sweden.

Is that our answer?

Could the monster simply be
an overgrown sturgeon?

As we're about to find out,

the mystery is still
far from being solved.

Next time, there's a chance
we've had physical evidence

of the Loch Ness Monster
for centuries.

Go!

Quinto: And if that's the case,

then we may know
exactly where to look

for our own encounter
with the beast.