Alaska Chena River Monster – YouTube.
October 18, 2016 – Fairbanks Alaska – Bureau of Land Management Specialist Craig McCaa was peering into the Chena River when he noticed something strange.
Looking down from the University Ave bridge which crosses the river McCaa saw an eerie shape moving back and forth in the water. Armed with a camera he obtained the footage visible in the video below :
The video was posted on the Bureau of Land Management – Alaska “Facebook page Tuesday afternoon and had over 20,000 hits that evening. The social media site is loaded with comments and theories of what the “creature” might be.
Some speculate it could be a rope covered in ice chunks, a giant sturgeon or sea creature of some sort.
MaCaa stated he added sound to the video and slightly sped up its speed but there no alterations to the actual image. The “creature” is estimated to be as long as 15 feet.
Could this fish be a white sturgeon, which are the largest freshwater fish in North America? They can weigh over 1,500 pounds, be 20 feet in length, and live for over 100 years.
The possibility of a white sturgeon existing this far north into the colder portions of Alaska is very unlikely as there having never been confirmed sighting. Sturgeon have been captured in the lakes much further south. The video however does not show evidence of a dorsal fin and hence adding further mystery to the ordeal.
Canadian sturgeon in the Frazer River 2-12-2015
Lamprey and wolf eels would appear as other possibilities but lamprey only grow a bit over one foot long. Wolf eels, on the other hand can grow considerably larger up to perhaps up to 8 feet long, but do sport a dorsal fin.
After much speculation, Alaska Department of Fish and Game Tanana River Management Biologist Klaus Wuttig has a possible answer.
Simply a rope floating off the University Ave bridge.
He states that the rope appears to be covered with “frazil ice“, a form of soft, amorphous ice that forms in moving water from ice crystals under cold weather conditions. The ice caused the rope to float to the surface, he added.
He said that despite looking as if it was swimming upstream, the object was actually stationary in the water.
“It looks like it is swimming but it’s actually stationary and just wading in the current,” Wuttig told Alaska Daily News after watching the video.
“It looks like like it’s swimming upstream,” he said. “But it’s not organic.”
The biologist denied suggestions that it could be a giant sturgeon, noting that giant sturgeons have never been seen in the river.
Mystic Science Fans we will keep you posted on this!
For more information see:
http://people.com/human-interest/viral-video-sea-monster-alaska/
