Tales of monsters persist to this day and there’s no better place to hide them than in the deep sea. We are joined by paleontology student and cryptozoology blogger Tyler Greenfield to look at some of the most famous sea monsters and see if there is any truth to the stories. We discuss megalodon, globsters, plesiosaurs/Nessie and all manner of strange carcasses that wash up from time to time.

We have a good hard listen to The Bloop and I call upon an expert in the undersea calls of marine animals, Nicky Harris. She also has a tale from the high seas for us… a rather grizzly bit of nature in action. People in the front row will get wet.

Also in this episode, we talk about glowing sharks, the largest bioluminescent vertebrate. Soft robotics to the planets deepest places and Alan picks a fight with a polar bear, taking on The Octonauts’ very own Captain Barnacles.

Finally, we hear from Don Walsh, who shares some ocean myths that went on to have a grain of truth.

Feel free to get in touch with us with questions or you own tales from the high seas on:

[email protected]

Read the show notes and find out more about us at:

www.armatusoceanic.com

Links

Bioluminescence of the Largest Luminous Vertebrate, the Kitefin Shark, Dalatias licha: First Insights and Comparative Aspects

Self-powered soft robot in the Mariana Trench

10 Bizarre Deep Sea Creatures (treehugger.com)

Tyler’s fantastic blog

Tyler’s cryptozoology paper archive

A link to Beebe’s book, Half A Mile Down

You can find Tyler on Twitter @TylerGreenfieId

Papers on Helicoprion

1. Jaws for a spiral-tooth whorl: CT images reveal novel adaptation and phylogeny in fossil Helicoprion

On the Giant Octopus (Octopus giganteus) and the Bermuda Blob: Homage to A. E. Verrill

How to tell a sea monster: molecular discrimination of large marine animals of the North Atlantic

NOAA’s response to the Mermaids: A body found

Fish tales: Combating fake science in popular media

Credits

Theme – Hadal Zone Express by Märvel (http://marvel.nu/)

Additional music - Lost In The Forest - Doug Maxwell, Media Right Productions