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By way of example, there is an old story about some "suit and helmet divers" who have to go down to investigate the condition of wooden pilings at the bottom of a river control structure (you choose the river). As these are modern times, the divers carry their own electric lighting system with them. Anyhow, one of the divers feels something brush against him. He turns around with his light in hand, and the light reflects off of a pair of very large eyes practically nose-to-nose with him. Of course, the diver hauls himself out of the water as fast as he can, and once he calms down, he tells his story to the boss of the project. "Yeah, that's old Jimmy (you choose a name), the giant (you name the fish), that lives at the bottom of the river in these parts," explains an old codger sitting on the dock to which the diving barge is moored. "No one knows how old he is. We catch smaller ones, oh about six to ten feet long sometimes, but they're not good for eating. They're to big and tough to fry! We either throw 'em back or cut them up for bait."

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Native American legends tell of forty-foot long sturgeons. Carp-type fish can grow to wildly respectable sizes. Of course, Mississippi River catfish are known for growing into whoppers. Even in the Gulf of Mexico, people catch tarpons and other fish that are of incredible dimensions. The policy now though appears to be after some pictures are taken of the fisherman/woman/child with the catch, it is released back into the water so it can continue to live and grow.

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I tend to reserve judgment on the possibility that there are ultra-giant seals out there. Historically, the last giant water mammal of some thirty to forty feet in length was a Steller's Sea Cow (I think I spelled that right). Of course, as the story goes, sailors in the north seas ate them into extinction. (Sailors always get a raw deal for eating animals to extinction, like the Dodo.)

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In a recent posting here, the point was made that the distinction between a Nessie type animal and one of these other types is that the Nessie is very likely to raise its head and neck up out of the water. These other critters never lift a head up at all.

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So, even if you don't see an Ogopogo, a Champ, a Nessie, or their like, you may see one of our planet's equally astonishing giant water animals someday!