Merhorse

This creature is built like a slender-bodied plesiosaur, but appears to be a form of enormous sea lion. It gets its name from an impressive horselike mane of reddish hair on its neck. Since most aquatic mammals have almost no hair, it has been suggested that these "hairs" are really respiratory organs in the form of filaments, absorbing air from the water and enabling the beast to remain under longer. (Some frogs are known to have this arrangement.) The Merhorse's head is horselike, but also quite wide, giving it a diamond-shaped (and snakelike) appearance when viewed directly from the front. Its forward-facing eyes are huge, demonstrating that it hunts in the darker depths of the sea. The eyes are black, though they may seem red or green when light strikes them directly. The mouth is wide, edged with thick, light-colored lips, and surrounded by bristles. The face is very hairy, possibly giving the thing a moustache.

The medium to long neck supports the mane. Some observers report a jagged crest on the back, but this is probably just tufts of hair sticking together. The Merhorse has a pair of front flippers, with rear flippers that have either joined together in a vertical plane to form a false tail, or have disappeared entirely and been replaced by a two-lobed tail with a jagged rear edge. It has smooth, shiny skin like a sea lion, which may be covered with short fur. The whole animal, aside from the mane, is uniformly dark brown, steel gray, or black. Merhorses reported in warm water are a mahogany color. It apparently lives on large fish and squid, as tales from such disparate locations as Scandinavia and the South Pacific tell of enmity between sea serpents and squids. Except for the Indian Ocean and the polar regions, it has been reported all over the world.

by Gregory W. Detwiler