The Science of Monsters

The story follows a group of scientists who are on an expedition to the Amazon. They find fossils that look human but with webbed hands and feet. Is it possible for humans to have webbed hands or feet? It is possible although extremely rare. Only one in three thousand children are born with this condition. How does it happen? While in the womb during the sixth or seventh week of pregnancy, a child’s hands and feet begin to split and form fingers and toes. When this doesn’t happen, the skin between fingers and toes remains combined together. Webbing can be associated with hereditary defects of both Down and Apert syndromes, which lead to unusual development of the bones in the hands and feet. Many people born with webbed fingers or toes can have surgery to separate them either at birth or later in life.

An example of webbed hands.

One character in the movie Creature from the Black Lagoon is studying lungfish, a fish that can breathe both on land and in water. Are there really animals that breathe air and live in water? Fish breathe air through their gills while marine mammals such as seals or whales have lungs and take in oxygen through their blowholes or snouts. Unlike humans, these marine mammals breathe voluntarily but similarly can stay underwater for about nine minutes. The human record for holding their breath the longest is German free diver Tom Sietas who held his breath underwater for twenty-two minutes and twenty-two seconds in 2012. Whales, dolphins, porpoises and some seals have a much greater ability to stay submerged and can remain there as long as ninety minutes. Turtles can hold their breath for about two hours. Other animals that can live in or out of the water include mudskippers, walking catfish, and climbing gourami. In 2013, there were reports of a Northern snakehead, a fish that can grow up to three feet in length, “walking” around Central Park in New York City. These terrifying creatures can survive up to four days on land and have no natural predators in the United States. They can reproduce at an incredible rate, laying tens of thousands of eggs multiple times per year. (Now that sounds like the start of a horror movie!)

Could examples like this be responsible for the numerous legends about sea creatures? There are stories of human-like beings across cultures that go back centuries. Mermaids are prevalent in lore ranging from Greek mythology to sightings from Europe, Asia, and Africa. Even Christopher Columbus was said to have spotted “three female forms which rose high out of the sea, but were not as beautiful as they are represented” in 1493.¹ In stories, mermaid-like creatures are responsible for shipwrecks, can be helpful, and even fall in love with humans. Adaro were malevolent merman-like sea spirits found in the mythology of the Solomon Islands. They were considered dangerous and arose from the wicked part of a person’s spirit. An Adaro is described as a man with gills behind his ears, tail fins for feet, a horn like a shark’s dorsal fin, and a swordfish-like spear growing out of his head.²

Dagon is a fish god that appears in the Hebrew Bible as well as ancient Sumerian texts. Dagon was worshipped and appears in popular fiction including this passage from Paradise Lost (1667) by John Milton:³

Dagon his name, sea-monster, upward man

And downward fish; yet had his temple high

H. P. Lovecraft also wrote of Dagon in his story by the same name and in The Shadow over Innsmouth (1931) A movie entitled Dagon (2002), based on his stories, features fish-human hybrids. Dagon also appears in the game Dungeons and Dragons.

Vodyanoy is a Slavic fairy tale character described as “a naked old man with a frog-like face, greenish beard, and long hair, with his body covered in algae and muck, usually covered in black fish scales. He has webbed paws instead of hands, a fish’s tail, and eyes that burn like red-hot coals.”⁴ These creatures are thought to drown people who come into their territory, and store their souls.

Finfolk are also known to kidnap humans and keep them as slaves. Finfolk are part of Scottish folklore and were recorded as late as the nineteenth century.⁵ The Loch Ness Monster is perhaps the most famous sea creature from this region. The first known sighting of it is from the sixth century. The Life of St. Columba by Adomnan chronicles his travels to Loch Ness. He writes about a man that had been eaten by “a monster” in the river and recounts his own face-to-face meeting. Later reports in the 1930s claim the Loch Ness Monster crossed roads and even emerged long enough to get its photo taken. Most recently a team of scientists, who are DNA experts, conducted two weeks of sample collecting in 2018 to determine what lives in the lake where “Nessie” has been spotted. No word yet on the results.⁶