Unexplained

Kraken, The Real Sea Monster Artist

Kraken Ichthyosaur State Park
By Alisha Vargas from Reno, NV, US [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Many of you have probably seen the amazing fantasy movie “Clash of the Titans”. The Kraken was the infamous villain in the original movie that Perseus had to slay in order to save the fair maden. Is the Kraken a real sea monster, or even based off some shred of realism?  Let’s explore…

Fossilized Remains of the Kraken Sea Monster

A prehistoric oceanic graveyard reveals fossilized remains left by what some call The Kraken.

About 350 miles northwest of Las Vegas, in Nevada’s Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park  you will find these fossils that were said to be deposited some 200 million years ago. This area was once part of the sea floor which explains why they are there. These fossils are circular vertebral discs or backbones that are believed to belong to Shonisaurus popularis, a particular species of ichthyosaurs. According to scientists the size of these bones tell a tale of creatures believed to be nearly 50 feet in length, possibly longer.

According to some these fossils are lined up in neat double rows. It’s believed that these bones were deliberately placed in this pattern by the Kraken as a sort of self portrait. I know that does sound a little crazy, but if this is true it certainly shows that the Kraken had great intelligence. The Kraken was supposedly drowning or breaking the necks of these ichthyosaurs.  This kind of behavior sound very “Serial Killer” -ish.

But according to Paul Myers a biologist from the University of Minnesota this was all accidental explaining that the creatures once dead fell to the ocean floor and the remains were fossilized this way naturally.

The Kraken a Great Artist?

Of course it’s exciting to think that we have sea dwelling creatures that have the skills of an artist, but could it really be possible? Is there really a supra-intelligent sea monster known as the Kraken down in the ocean depths creating self portraits from the bones of its prey?

Most likely not as some scientist believe that when creatures die and their remains float to the bottom, it’s only natural for the ocean currents to wash these remains together. Other sites with these supposed vertebrate highways have been discovered as well, sometimes with three rows instead of just two.

What do you think? Is there really a Giant Sea Monster known as the Kraken creating art on the sea floor?  Or is this just natures arrangement of ichthyosaur remains washed together and left to fossilize? We’d love to hear your views in the comments below.
 


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3 thoughts on “Kraken, The Real Sea Monster Artist
  1. Thanks for sharing, your articles are always high quality 🙂
    I know the Kraken only from the movie The Pirates of the Caribbean, but there is a lot more history about this sea creature. Maybe I will need this information some day in a money-winning quiz, who knows? 😉

    1. Hey thanks John for the feedback. I had forgotten all about the Kraken in The Pirates of the Caribbean!!! That’s a perfect example of how these legends differ from one to the next.

      I believe the Kraken was more of an octopus type creature in that movie, rather than the lizard/man type creature with multiple arms as in Clash of the Titans.

      Oh, and I do hope this info may win you some money one day! 😀

  2. Hi Robert. I have a Kraken here and its right inside my computer now cooling my CPU. It’s the NZXT Kraken X60 hehehe. Well, jokes aside, the graphical representation of the sea monster is great but it doesn’t look like a “Kraken” at all for me. I still think that a Kraken is something similar in the Clash of the Titans.

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