Posted: April 1, 2015

Do you know what is living in our river?

There has recently been a peculiar sighting on the Ottawa River near Deep River and reports show this isn't the first time...

Anyone who likes to swim, fish or boat on the Ottawa River has likely come across the regular suspects in the river: pike, small mouth bass, channel catfish, maybe even an American eel or a river otter if one is lucky. However, did you know that there have been seven reports of a very peculiar river sighting?One of our Riverwatchers recently spotted a very large creature and quickly snapped a photo of it before it plunged back into the water. They immediately contacted our staff scientist, Dr. Meaghan Murphy who looked into the matter and discovered a report that documented similar sightings in the Ottawa River.

The report listed sightings on seven different occasions in the Ottawa River near the towns of Deep River, ON and Sheenboro, QC. In separate reports, the creature has been described as “prehistoric”, “enormous”, “scaly”, “long-necked” and “frightening”. One person even described it as “cute” and “curious”. We understand that our river was once home to sturgeon that reached over 100 pounds, but people who gave these reports insisted that the creature they saw was not a fish.

“Frankly, I’m not that surprised, ” said Dr. Murphy. “The river is very deep in that reach and no one has done a comprehensive survey to know what lives in the deep, deep holes of our river. You never know what could be lurking down there.”

If you have any stories to share about encounters with strange creatures in the Ottawa River, please contact us.

Yours sincerely,

The team at Ottawa Riverkeeper

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