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Bristol Harbour: Luminous alien creature or fishy hoax?

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Pietro_Mercurios

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Bristol Harbour. Luminous mystery alien sea creature, or clever hoax?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...ted-in-waters-of-bristol-harbour-8986417.html

Mysterious glowing ‘alien-like creature’ spotted in waters of Bristol Harbour. A jellyfish - or something fishy?

http://youtu.be/l6-yYqsCDhA

Sighting has divided experts, who say it could be a jellyfish, marine salp – or simply a prank

The Independent. Adam Withnall. 05 December 2013


Is it a jellyfish, or a light installation? Perhaps something fishy is going on. A mysterious video has emerged on YouTube from Tuesday night which appears to show a glowing “alien-like creature” floating in the waters of Bristol Harbour.

The footage has been viewed thousands of times and caused a stir on Twitter and Facebook – and even the experts cannot agree on what it is that uploader John Tombe has captured on camera.

Andrew Spooner, an IT professional living in Bristol, witnessed the “creature” and tweeted a picture, describing it as “some weird craziness swimming around in #bristol harbour. Looks alien…”

The squid-like being flashed brightly in the darkness for around half a minute, witnesses said, before disappearing – and has left experts at odds over what could have happened.

Dr Steve Simpson, from the School of Biological Sciences at Bristol University, saw the footage and told the Bristol Post: “It's very intriguing - I don't really know what to make of it.

“There is a possibility that it is a special type of jellyfish or a marine salp. It's very unusual and I haven't really seen anything like it before though.

“What makes it even more unusual is that fact that it showed up in the middle of a really busy area.

“There are various marine animals that have biological illuminating abilities and they are able to make themselves flash.

”It is entirely possible that it is a marine creature which has been brought into the harbour because of the storms or maybe it was trying to shelter from the stormy seas.”

He nonetheless admitted the possibility that the mysterious object in the water could have been the work of an inventive prankster, saying it was “either a very interesting animal or someone's very cool interpretation of a marine creature”.

Daniel De Castro, the curator of the Bristol Aquarium, was less willing to humour the idea that the “creature” could be something from the deep – let alone from another planet.

He told BBC Bristol: “I don’t think it’s alive, really. It would be very unlikely for a jellyfish to arrive in Harbourside alive in one piece.

“I’ve seen the pictures and I think it must be entirely artificial. It’s really clever the way they’ve done it, there could be a jellyfish that big in the world – but not like that, and not here. The water here is not good enough quality for them.”
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Weird looking thing, nonetheless.
 
I'm going to say I think it's a prank. I don't think light producing creatures are that bright.
 
Much the same story in the Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvid ... rbour.html

...

What could it be?

A rare type of marine salp: these are barrel-shaped marine animals which feed on algae and form into long chains with other salps. They look very primitive, like jellyfishes, but their biological make-up is actually closer to fish and vertebrates.

A jellyfish: there are a huge number of different jellyfish species across the globe, many of which carry luminescent and fluorescent genes

An alien: a number of passers-by who spotted the squid-like creature likened it to a creature from another world

An art installation: some marine biologists are unconvinced the ‘creature’ seen in the harbour was a living thing. The curator of the Bristol Aquarium, Daniel De Castro, said he believed it was “entirely artificial”.

A Banksy work: some people have suggested that Bristol street art legend Banksy might be behind the mystery sighting. Despite conceding it might a marine creature, Dr Steve Simpson, senior lecturer in Biosciences at the University of Exeter, said: “I’m still waiting for Banksy to own up.”

A prank: someone thought it would be entertaining to get tongues wagging about an alien invasion in Bristol but, if it was a prankster, they have done a very professional job. Mr Di Castro said: “It’s really clever the way they’ve done it.”
 
My own theory:

It's a dead fish or small shark floating upside down. Some wag has gutted it and inserted an LED strip or battery powered strip light, with the light shining out through the long slit in its belly.
 
I was going to go for another drunken reveller who'd been on the blue WKD and fallen in (happens a lot, there's no railings along lengthy stretches), but no - It's a puppet!

A strange glowing creature which appeared in Bristol's harbour earlier this week has been revealed as an elaborate stunt.

People who saw it thought it could be a jellyfish, or an alien, but actually it was all just a hoax.

The marketing stunt was carried out by UKTV’s entertainment channel, Watch.

The guerrilla campaign was created to launch The Happenings, a new illusion series featuring master magicians ‘Barry and Stuart’, a new show from the producers of Derren Brown.

The sightings drew debate among local marine biologists.

Dr Steve Simpson, from the School of Biological Sciences at Bristol University, said yesterday: "It's very intriguing - I don't really know what to make of it."

Meanwhile BBC Bristol had called in the services of an expert from Bristol Aquarium to help explain the sightings on the local breakfast show.

Theories about the beast on Twitter ranged from "freaky glowing squid" to "giant jellyfish" with one Tweeter describing the occurrence as "Close Encounters Of the Bristol Kind."
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There's a better photo at that website:

5590073-large.jpg
 
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