Sea serpent
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Sea serpent has come to mean almost invariably a sea monster that is generally long and serpentine. There are occasional cases reported of long serpentine creatures in the ocean, sometimes even multiple person sightings, especially on ships or at the beach.
Aquatic serpents have been reported since antiquity. The biblical Leviathan is decribed as a "crooked serpent" in the King James translation of the Bible. In the 1800s, the coast of New England had several major sightings and at the August 18, 1817 meeting of the New England Linnaean Society they even gave a deformed terrestrial snake the name Scoliophis atlanticus thinking it was the juvenile form of the sea serpent that has been seen by the local community.
The most famous sea serpent sighting is probably that by the officers and men of HMS Daedalus in 1848 whilst en route to St Helena in the South Atlantic.
They are generally categorized as someone misinterpereting a real animal, such as a sea snake or oarfish.
Sea serpents are a staple of nautically inclined swords and sorcery stories.
See also
da:Søslange de:Seeschlange (Mythologie) es:Serpeinte marina no:Lindorm