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:
podcast@armatusoceanic.com
 
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
Jaws for a spiral-tooth whorl: CT images reveal novel adaptation and phylogeny in fossil Helicoprion
Eating with a saw for a jaw: Functional morphology of the jaws and tooth-whorl in Helicoprion davisii
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