By Tim Binnall
Wildlife officials in Australia have solved the mystery of a 'lake monster,' thought by some to be a shark, that had been seen lurking at a popular swimming spot. The odd case reportedly began earlier this month when a peculiar creature was spotted at Lake Alexander in the city of Darwin. Having observed the creature out in the water, bewildered witnesses were certain that they had encountered a shark, which prompted concerned authorities to close the site to the public so that they could investigate the strange sighting. The commotion was particularly curious to local residents since the lake is man made and, therefore, it would be rather unusual for a shark to be living there.
Officials with the country's Northern Territory Fisheries department subsequently set about searching for the creature and the community became captivated by the search for the 'Loch Anderson Monster,' as it had come to be known. Fortunately fear that there a shark had come to take up residents at the swimming spot were put to rest as, after two weeks of scouring the lake, workers were able to nab what they believe was the 'beast' that had caused all the commotion and revealed that it was a milkfish that measured around three feet in length. An official with the city's parks department explained that the confusion is understandable as the rather sizeable creature "would be a very easy fish to mistake for a shark" by virtue of its ""very prominent vertical fins."
Oddly enough, the events of the past few weeks are not the first time that Lake Alexander has been thought to be the home of some kind of mystery creature as, back in 2009, a similar series of events occurred at the site after a woman reported being bitten on the foot by something in the water. As with this more recent case, fishermen and officials in the city quickly launched a dogged pursuit of the aggressive animal which, yes, was dubbed the 'Loch Alexander Monster' and was eventually revealed to be merely a big cod. Given the repeating nature of history, especially in regards to high strangeness, one imagines that its only a matter of time before the myth of the 'monster' manifests itself again.