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Guide to Patagonia's Monsters & Mysterious beings

I have written a book on this intriguing subject which has just been published.
In this blog I will post excerpts and other interesting texts on this fascinating subject.

Austin Whittall


Tuesday, September 17, 2019

The "lake Monster" of Lake Rosario: just a clump of algae (didymo?)


An article published yesterday (16 Sep. 2019) in the Spanish language online journal "Diario Jornada" (¿Un monstruo en Lago Rosario?, based in the Patagonian province of Chubut, Argentina, mentions a strange sighting in Lago Rosario, a lake set on the eastern foothills of the Andes. The article's title translated to English reads: "A monster in Lake Rosario?".


Well, no it wasn't a monster, actually it looks like a clump of algae trailing green scum underwater.


Photos from the article:


The "monster" was only a blob of algae. Diario Jornada

The video also shows a clump of lake weeds -although some might think it looks like a gigantic jelly fish or medusa:



It was filmed about four years ago, and published now. The lake is located close to the towns of Esquel and Trevelin in Argentina (see this Map.


In a post back in Feb. 2010 I mentioned the Lake Bulls, a Patagonian myth, and among the lakes that reported sightings, was Lake Rosario:


"Lake Rosario also Laguna del Toro Negro (Lake of the black bull). (43°16' S, 71°20' W). Set on the edge of the steppe its shores are surrounded by ñire forests and with the mighty Andes are its backstage.
The local natives tell an ancient tale about a fierce black bull that lived by the lake that killed the son of an Indian chief who had tried to hunt it. The grieving chief in turn killed the bull, which, even dead, can often be heard howling and "seen swimming in the lake".
Another version says that the lake was formed when a White Bull "one night, furious, pounded a water spring with its hoofs". In this version the howling being is not the bull, but the spirit of the dead Indian
"


I also posted on Lake Rosario in Nov. 2009, saying that "The lake is also said to have a Cuero (see our post on Cuero)and a mermaid “sirena” - (see our post on Mermaids)".


Floating clumps of algae can surely explain these sightings. And I hadn't seen such masses of lake algae in any Patagonian lake until now. I should point out however that there is a species of exotic invasive algae, the Didymosphenia geminata also known as "didymo" or "rock snot" that has recently been expanding rapidly in Patagonia. It originated in the northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere and is now found in New Zealand, Chile, Argentina and the lower 48 states of the US. See distribution map below:



Could this algae in the video by rock snot? Below some photos of didymo:



Not all that floats in a lake and looks unusual is a monster. It can be some invasive algae.



Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2019 by Austin Whittall © 

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