Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!

Cryptid Invertebrates

The creatures listed here are animals outside of the phylum Chordata (animals with backbones, everything listed so far) which remain unclassified. Most of the creatures here aren't very closely related to each other, but I have lumped them all together becuase there aren't too many invertebrate cryptids. Many other cryptids are suspected as being invertebrates, but the ones listed here are those which we are sure are invertebrate.



  • Fresh water octopi (Indiana, Kentucky and west Virginia NA): Octopus-like animals, often described as horribly ugly creatures or "tongues" (in reference to the tentacles reaching out of the water, when the body can't be seen), have been seen in rivers and creeks in these states. Cepalopods (octopi, squid, cuttlefish, nautali, ect) can't survive in freshwater, and if a cephalopod evolved a freshwater existence youd expect to see intermediate species in estuaries. There is the remote possibility, though, that species of octopus do exist in tracts of fresh water in these regions.



  • Williamette Valley skookum (Oregon NA): A common legend in Western North America are the skookums (skookum = strong), large tentacled animals which live in lakes. A man who visited a lake in Williamette Valley, Oregon, saw wht he described as "an orange body with two long, thin, black tentacles". the body allegedly looked like an air-sack of some kind. to me, this ceems like it may be some sort of cephalopod, or if not at least another form of mollusc which developed large tentacles. a relative of snails, perhaps?



  • Giant freshwater crustaceans (Oregon NA): Giant crabs or lobsters inhabiting the area around Wallowa Lake appear heavily in the tales of early settlers to Oregon. Although no true lobsters live on the Pacific coast (only spiny lobsters, or langoustes), there are many large crabs. but these freshwater crabs would even exceed the largest known crabs, genus Godzillius, in size. I think it is very possible that these things did exist, but according to the records the crustaceans just plain disapeared. no one knows whether they merely died, or if they migrated somewhere else. perhaps someone should investigate any remote areas of the Pacific North West in hopes of finding them. A giant crab should be easier to find than a giant ape.



  • "underwater flies" (British Columbia NA): Small, venomous crabs which are mentioned by natives of BC's interior. They are called Xwixwiya:ye, and are the size of a man's hand. According to a Chilliwak resident, they behave and look somewhat like flies (hence being called "underwater flies") but have big claws and crawl around on the bottom. If they bite (I'm assuming "bite" refers to the pinchers) you, according to the natives you will die very quickly. Definitely some sort of freshwater crab, but of what kind I have no clue.



  • Dundass Island blackflies (Dundass Island in British Columbia NA): Most natives in this region refuse to visit, or even land their boats, on Dundass Island, for the simple reason that the island is inhabited by large, flesh-eating and bloodsucking venomous flies. About 5 or 6 inches long and pure black, excepting a red head, red abdomen tip, and yellow band across the middle of it's back, the Dundass Ilsnad blackflies are highly venomous and both eat the flesh and drink the blood of their victims. They attack in huge swarms. It's not surprising that they haven't been catalogued yet; no one wants to risk going to Dundass Island to classify them!



  • Giant centipedes (Ozark region NA): Abnormally large centipedes reaching 18 inches in length. The largest known centipede from the Ozarks has a maximum recorded lenth of 7 inches. There have been tales of even larger centipedes in this region, but never any proof. I tend to think these are just abnoramlly large individuals of known species.



  • Mulilo (Zaire and Zambia AFRICA): A giant slug-like animal reported from the Congo Rain forest and nearby areas in Zaire and Zambia. My personal opinion is that this is some kind of oversiezed gastropod, perhaps related to normal terrestrial slugs, or perhaps evolved seperately from another gastropod line. could also be some completley other kind of animal which has a somewhat slug-like appearence.



  • Madagascar "mega-moth" (Madagascar AFRICA): When Charles Darwin discovered a species of flower with an exceptionally deep corolla, he hypothesised that a species of hawk moth would be discovered with a proboscis long enough to reach the nectar, and thus pollinate the plant. such a moth was indeed discovered. Many years later, a very rare flower with an even deeper corolla was discovered, and once again a moth was hypothised, this one needing a proboscis somewhere between 14 and 18 inches long. Such a moth has yet to be found. and it may even be extinct as the flower hasn't been seen since.



  • Congolese giant spider (Swamps of Zaire AFRICA): A spider the size of a human pygmy is said to live in the swmaps of the Congo. This would mean a spider 4 feet across the legs. The largest known spider, Megarachne, existed approx. 300 million years ago and was was only 20 inches across the legs. That would make this spider the biggest one to ever exist.



  • "ghost insects" (United Kingdom EUROPE): There have been two sightings of "ghost insects" in Britain, one involving the creature nearly colliding with a woman's face, only being seen for less than a second, and the other being a centipede-like animal seen hovering outside of an apartment building at dawn. As soon as the light began to get strong, it took off faster than the eye could follow. I have been the first to liken these two reports to the "rods" seen all across the world (discussed at the bottom of the page)



  • Mongolian "death worm" (Gobi Desert in Mongolia ASIA): A 4 foot long, bright red worm-like animal which burrows beneath the sand and sprays corrosive venom at it's victims. It is highly feared by the locals, the mere mention of it's name thought to rbing bad luck. It is said to be attracted to the colour yellow. If this creature exists, it is doubtful that it is actually a worm. It is more likely to be some sort of snake, or even a legless skink like the "sand fish" of the Sahara.



  • Papuan giant spider (New Guinea ASIA): A report of an emmense spider comes from New Guinea, north of Australia. It was said to be the size of a small dog. The area where the spider was seen was coated with a sheet of web, like those made by funnel-web spiders. many species of large (eight inches) funnel-web spiders live in Eastern Australia. could this spider be a much, much, much bigger relative?



  • Kon Tiki creatures (Pacific Ocean): Thor Heyerdahl, the captain of the raft Kon Tiki, claimed to have seen strange phosphorescent creatures while on his trans-pacific voyage. There are countless denizens of the sea which phosphoresce (create light), and it is never specified what these creatures could have looked like. Any help is much appreciated.



  • Gigantic giant squid (Oceans of the world): The largest squid on earth, Archituethis dux, is known to reach 60 feet in length. Squid attaining the length of 100 feet have been reported for ages, and the sucker marks and stray tentacles associated with sperm whales suggest squid of the amzing size of 200 or even 300 feet. since the proportions of sucker size and tentacle size to body size in Architeuthis is constant, these estimates are flawless. However, squid of entirely unknown genera could be responsible for these sucker marks and tentacles, in which case their size isn't the mystery, but their existence.



  • Lusca (Blue holes of Andros Island in the Cariibean): The Blue Holes are emmensely deep caverns of sea water, so deep as to give a deep navy blue colour to their waters. They are vertical shafts going straight down for miles, and often connecting with each other with a series of tunnels. the largest cabs in the world, genus Godzillius, dwell in these holes, and it is thus no surpirse that enormous octopi reaching over 100 feet in length have also been reported from here. Giant crabs = giant octopi, it's just that the octopus hasn't been discovered yet. the pearl divers fear these creatures, and call them the lusca. It is thought that the St. Augutine corpse was one of these.



  • Giant "scuttle" (Bahamas and other Carribean islands): The pearl divers and other oceanic workers in the Bahamas and nearby regions talk of giant scuttles, scuttle being their name for an octopus. Unlike the lusca, these are not cave dwellers, but roam the deeper open-water areas. One pearl diver testified how when he was young a giant octopus came up beneath his boat, but it couldn't get a good hld so it left him alone. The fishermen say that these emmense scuttles are only dangerous if they can get one tentecle in the the boat and another one firmly around the hull, forming a vice grip. These may or may not represent the same species a the lusca, and at least they are closely related. These may also be the creatures behind the krakken legend.



  • "the hide" (Off the coast of Chile): A giant brown octopus supposedly covered in "eyes". The suckers of an octopus, not a squid, look very eye-like. Since Chile is on the pacific coast, and not the Atlantic, the hide can't be the same as the lusca or giant scuttle. And it can't be the same as the Hawaiian giant octopus either, becuase those are said to be cirrate octopi, which have little sensory extremities instead of suckers on their arms. The hide definitely has suckers. Most probably a Pacific relative of the Atlantic giant octopi.



  • Hawaiian giant octopi (Hawaii Archipeligo in the Pacific): Giant octopi, seeming to be of the cirrate octopus family, have been reported from Hawaii prior to World War 2. The surprising thing is that these octopi were the subject of extensive studies prior to the war, and a piture of one of them was published in a newspaper, but as soon as the war hit all interest in them died off and they were forgotten. And they still would be if someone hadn't found the newspaper clipping with the photo. This picture couldn't have been faked unless a 60 foot tall model was used. You can see the photo at http://www.herper.com/nabr/NABR5.pdf It is the cover piece, and there is a bigger copy inside the issue.



  • Giant jellyfish (Oceans around the world, especially in the Arctic): There are several species of gigantic jellyfish, but truly monstrous creatures have been seen, exceeding in size all other known living things. A jellyfish over 200 feet in length would surely be the world's biggest animal. There appear to be several species involved, but whatever they are these are most likely huge relatives of the largest known jellyfish species, which come from the arctic and are known collectively as lions-manes.



  • St. Lucia worm (Off of St. Lucia): A giant polychaete worm reported off the shores of St. Lucia. Polychaetes are the typical sea-worms, with many paddle-like limbs along their bodies (polycaete means "many bristled). My opinion is that a giant species of worm is very likely, and may explain many sea-serpent sightings around the world. I'll get into this more later.



  • "sea scorpion" (Miami Beach in Florida): A large scorpion-like animal seen off of Miami Beach in Florida. Short of thinking this is an aquatic scorpion, it is more likely to be an unknown lobster-like species. Or, it could well be a surviving eurypterid, the gigantic "sea socrpions' which ruled the sea before the first jawed fish evolved. But a lobster-like animal is much, much, much more likely.



  • Rods (Skies across the world): One of the most controversial subjects in cryptozoology today are the "rods", high-speed insect-like lifeforms said to fly through our skies. many people think, mistakenly, that rods were fabricated by a man named Jose who filmed some blurred insects in Mexico. his videos were blatent fakes, but subsequent films and countless eyewitness reports aren't fake. I myself have observed rods, and under the circumstances I have been able to come up with a comprehensive theory explaining their existence. Though many alleged videos and stills of rods merely show blurred insects or smudges, and some show cloud activity, many others show the creatures themselves. Rods represent an entire class of arthropods, some of which have a series of small wings along their sides ("ghost centipede"?), while others have a continous "membrane" with which to fly. I will go in to considerable depth on this subject later.