Marine saurian

Of the seven sea serpents Heuvelmans describes, the Marine saurian is the only one that is definitely a reptile. Generally, it looks like a giant crocodile about 60' long, with either flippers instead of legs or legs with webbed feet. The eyes are prominent, and, in some cases, its tail may end in a fishlike fin. Its grayish or reddish brown skin looks smooth, but scales still remain in some places, forming rings around the body and creating a slight dorsal crest. It is found all over the tropics, and prefers the open sea to the coast.

Given the varying descriptions, more than one species of animal could be involved here. Those with flippers could well be mosasaurs though they could just as easily be plesiosaurs (short-necked plesiosaurs, such as the Kronosaurus from Australian waters) that should have the same general stats. The web-footed crocs could be surviving Thalattosuchians, or sea crocodiles from the Mesozoic Era.

Father-of-all-the-turtles

Named after a similar creature from Sumatran legends, this is basically a giant sea turtle 60' long and 40' wide. It has a mouth so wide that it splits the head in two when it opens (one report claims the inside of the mouth is a brilliant red color), large eyes, and a shell whose front slopes up and backward in front, then slants down toward the rear. The scales on the front are hardly noticeable, while those to the rear of the shell are so large they have been compared to roofing shingles. Sometimes fleshy filaments are reported hanging around the mouth. There are only a few reports of this beast, the last in 1960. Oddly for a reptile, it is found in cold temperate areas. However, really large reptiles lose heat more slowly than their smaller fellows, and the Leatherback turtle does travel far to the north.

Yellow belly

Although mentioned in passing by Heuvelmans, the Yellow Belly lacks the recurrent characteristics and volume of reports seen in his seven established types. Its vague description and limited reports make it better suited to the speculative category than the scientifically grouped sea serpents.

This poorly described and infrequently encountered creature is shaped like a tadpole up to 100' long, with a huge flat head that imperceptibly merges into its flat body. Its tail is extremely long and tapering. The Yellow belly is a very striking shade of yellow in color, with a black stripe all along its spine and black transverse bands on its sides. It has only been reported in tropical waters. Because its description is so vague, there is, as yet, no way to make even an educated guess about what kind of animal it is (if it exists at all).

Great orm

In July 1966, an oddly shaped prehistoric worm was described to the scientific community. Tullimonstreum gregarium was only a few inches long (a school of them, possibly young ones, had been buried in a cloud of sediment and preserved that way), but it looked for all the world like a miniature plesiosaur. It had a small but distinct head (unusual for worms), a slender, swanlike neck, a torpedo- shaped body with a pair of paddlelike flippers up front, and a tail that looks like an ace of spades. In an amazing example of convergent evolution, this worm from the Carboniferous period came to look like a plesiosaur, and undoubtedly lived like one. In his book, The Great Orm of Loch Ness, F. W. Holiday stated his opinion that Nessie and sea serpents in general are giant forms of Tullimonstreum.

Holiday gives a number of good reasons for his theory. The loch has been checked by sonar a number of times, sometimes showing creatures, sometimes not. If the creatures in the loch were lying, wormlike, on the bottom, the sonar would not distinguish them as separate objects. Also, an aquatic worm would mainly breathe through gills, so it would not have to surface for air, explaining why more sightings are not made. In his second book on this subject, The Dragon and the Disc, he mentions a case from the past where an "orm" came ashore, got itself wedged in a crevice or something, and died. The awed locals reported that it "melted away" without leaving any traces behind. Since worms are soft-bodied, shell-less invertebrates, they would leave no bones or other remains behind once their flesh had rotted away.

Another bit of evidence is the fact that close views of Nessie instill far more revulsion in people than would seem to be warranted by a good look at a plesiosaur, long-necked seal, etc. One witness actually described the body as "wormy; creepy. The entire body had movement all over it all the time." Echoing these sentiments was a woman who actually took two photographs of a similar beast in a different loch. She said she would not like to see the animal again because she did not like the way it moved when it swam. The two photos showed a head that merged imperceptibly into the neck (no eyes or other features were visible), and a body that changed shape as it swam. Another witness said the "obscene" thing reminded him of a giant stomach with a long, writhing gut attached. Charming! In an early sighting after the Loch Ness fracas began, a Mr. and Mrs. Spicer saw the thing flop across a road and plunge into the loch. They said that more than anything else, it looked like a giant slug. There are many descriptions of these lake monsters leaving trails of slime behind them when they come out on land. Whatever game system you use, don't be surprised if your NPC hirelings, colleagues, or whatever take to their heels at the first sight of the thing.

SPECIAL DEFENSES: Poisonous secretions from its warty flesh (save vs. poison at -1 if you touch it with bare flesh, or die).

by Gregory W. Detwiler