DNA testing aims to see if Nessie is just big fishy tale

Professor believes that experts’ research will reveal ‘interesting surprises’

The legend of the Loch Ness monster has baffled scientists for centuries – but now a group of experts are hoping that modern technology will reveal what really lives in the murky depths of the loch.

Professor Neil Gemmell, a scientist from New Zealand, will lead the global team on a search of Loch Ness using DNA sampling techniques to uncover its secrets.

Genetic code will be extracted from the loch’s water, collected over the course of a two-week period, to determine the types of creatures that make the water their home.

While Professor Gemmell is not convinced the Loch Ness monster exists, he hopes it could still throw up some interesting surprises.

“I don’t believe in the idea of a monster,” he said. “But I’m open to the idea that there are things yet to be discovered and not fully understood.

“Maybe there’s a biological explanation for some of the stories.”

DNA can be captured in the loch through tiny fragments left behind by creatures as they swim through the waters – from skin and scales, for example.

After the team’s trip next month, the samples will be sent to labs in New Zealand, Australia, Denmark and France to be analysed against a genetic database.

“There’s absolutely no doubt that we will find new stuff,” said Professor Gemmell, of the University of Otago in Dunedin. “And that’s very exciting.

“While the prospect of looking for evidence of the Loch Ness monster is the hook to this project, there is an extraordinary amount of new knowledge that we will gain from the work about organisms that inhabit Loch Ness – the UK’s largest freshwater body.”

The legend of the Loch Ness monster is embedded in Scottish folklore, with the earliest sighting of a “water beast” reported by an Irish monk in 565AD.

Nessie is said to have a long neck, with humps that protrude from the water – and more than 1,000 people claim to have spotted it.

However, many believe the “monster” could be a large fish like a catfish or sturgeon – theories the scientists will be able to explore.

The trip, which has been a year in the planning, will include scientists from universities in New Zealand, Denmark, Australia, America and France, as well as Adrian Shine, leader of the Loch Ness Project in Scotland.

While they hope it will answer some questions about the elusive Nessie, even if they do not find any evidence to explain it, the myth is likely to linger for years to come.

It is the one mystery that nobody really wants to be solved. But, after centuries of suspicious sightings and curious claims, the question of whether or not there is a Loch Ness monster could finally be laid to rest thanks to cold, hard science.

Experts hope to employ modern technology to find out exactly what lives beneath the murky depths of the famous body of water.

DNA sampling will be employed as the baffling case is put under the microscope. Scientists from all over the globe are expected to pore over the findings, comparing them against comprehensive genetic databases.

Professor Neil Gemmell has high hopes, stating: “I’m open to the idea that there are things yet to be discovered and not fully understood.”

Let us hope he is correct in his analysis as woe betide any expert who comes to these shores aiming to debunk one of the nation’s favourite stories.

Whatever is ultimately discovered, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the timing of the new probe is most convenient, arriving as it does just as the traditional tourist season is about to begin. Indeed, a happier coincidence is hard to imagine.

Of course most people have already made their minds up and the good news is — whatever the scientists ultimately find — the mystery is sure to endure.

For hundreds of years, visitors to Loch Ness have claimed to have seen Nessie.