by Doug Pemberton

I was ten years old when I saw my first sea monster.

Our family had just moved to the rugged shores of Newfoundland from the flat prairies of northern Alberta where the closest thing to a sea monster was the giant northern pike. I had read accounts of encounters with denizens of the deep in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, seen the awful danger that lurks in the depths on countless Sea Hunt episodes and heard stories of giant squid that had been found around Newfoundland, so I was pretty well convinced that just about anything that lived in the oceans was a sea monster.

I was fishing from a dock one day when I got a nibble. It fought hard as I excitedly reeled it in. Finally hoisting it out of the water, IT was like nothing I had ever seen before. Bloated to resemble a large soccer ball, the belly and sides of its predominantly dark grey-green body were gaudily painted in large yellow, red, orange and silver spots. It was well over a foot long, its mouth was wide open and it had several erect horns on its head. It was also making a hissing, croaking noise.

My initial fear and apprehension of this bizarre looking creature were soon replaced by curiosity. I later identified my sea monster as one of the over 300 species of the large family of fishes known as the Cottidae or sculpins, this particular specimen being a short horned sculpin Myoxocephalus scorpius.

For more on sculpins pick up a copy of the February issue of DIVER Magazine.