Mystery Atlas
Event

Loch Ness eDNA Survey

The 2018 environmental-DNA survey of Loch Ness led by Neil Gemmell of the University of Otago, which catalogued the loch's species from water samples: no reptile, sturgeon, or catfish DNA, no unknown large animal, and a great deal of eel DNA.

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Connected to

How this topic links to the people, places, and ideas around it — drawn from our knowledge graph.

Theories & Explanations

  • Nessie Misidentification Explanation

    Loch Ness eDNA Survey supports Nessie Misidentification Explanation — The loch's catalogued species match the misidentification candidates, with abundant eel DNA prompting the 'large eel' suggestion for some sightings.

  • Nessie Plesiosaur Claim

    Loch Ness eDNA Survey contradicts Nessie Plesiosaur Claim — The survey detected no reptilian DNA in the loch.

Places

  • Loch Ness

    Loch Ness eDNA Survey occurred in Loch Ness.

Loch Ness: From Sighting Wave to eDNA

The modern legend's key beats — reusable across the Nessie, Loch Ness, lake-cryptid, and hoax pages.

  1. 565

    Adomnán's Life of St Columba

    The 7th-century hagiography describes a 'water beast' in the River Ness in 565 AD — a conventional saint's-life motif, retrofitted to the legend in the 1930s.

  2. 2 May 1933

    The Inverness Courier report

    Aldie Mackay's sighting, published just as the new lochside road opened, starts the modern sighting wave.

  3. 21 April 1934

    Surgeon's Photograph (1934)

    The Daily Mail publishes the 'surgeon's photograph'; it anchors the plesiosaur image for sixty years.

  4. 23 April 1960

    The Dinsdale film

    Tim Dinsdale films a moving wake; a 1966 RAF analysis calls it probably animate, later re-analyses favour a boat.

  5. 1972

    The Rines underwater photographs

    Robert Rines's strobe photographs, including the 'flipper' images, are later shown to have been heavily retouched.

  6. 9 October 1987

    Operation Deepscan

    The largest sonar sweep of the loch: three unexplained mid-water contacts, no monster.

  7. March 1994

    The surgeon's photograph exposed

    Christian Spurling's deathbed account, published by researchers Boyd and Martin, reveals the 1934 image as a staged model.

  8. 5 September 2019

    Loch Ness eDNA Survey

    The Otago team announces the loch's DNA catalogue: no reptiles, no unknown large animal, abundant eels.

Explored on these pages

Is the Loch Ness Monster Real?

Is the Loch Ness Monster real? What the sightings, the famous photograph, sonar sweeps, and the 2018 DNA survey of the loch actually found.