U.K. vacationer splashes up Loch Ness Monster debate with strange new photo

U.K. resident Steve Challice was on holiday in Scotland last September when he captured photographic evidence of a large...something in Loch Ness. He recently posted the unexplainable image to a Facebook group called Anomalous Universe and effectively revived a famous debate over Nessie, the Plesiosaur-like cryptid that is fabled to live in the chilly waters of northern Britain.

"At the time I took it, I was on the wall of castle Urquhart," Challice wrote in the group, later adding that "it was a fluke shot."

"I was taking photos on the opposite side (east bank) of the Loch when I saw a disturbance in the water below me. I managed to take a couple of shots and one of them had a large fish in it," Challice tells SYFY WIRE. "As to what it is, I don't know, but I don't believe in the Loch Ness Monster, so my guess is something like a catfish."

That may very well be the case. The "Loch Ness Mystery" blog pointed out that the mottled object in Challice's post bears a striking resemblance to a record-breaking 129 kg (284 pounds) catfish captured in Italy over two years ago. The blog did cast some doubt on the photo's authenticity by bringing up Challice's professional experience in graphic design. 

"I havent been doing any for several years now," Challice says, countering the claim that he Photoshopped the image. "The last job I had was for the Old Thorns Golf Hotel, and that was typesetting menus and wedding brochures, which is a far cry from the level of work this sort of thing requires."

After the arrival of a global pandemic, murder hornets, and proof of bona fide UFOs, Twitter simply cannot wrap its collective head around the fact that 2020 just found room in its busy schedule to accommodate for water-dwelling dinosaurs. And you know what? We're just as speechless.

"I am amazed at the publicity and frankly feeling rather like I'm caught in the headlights, if you know what I mean," Challice says of his newfound notoriety. "I had no idea anyone would be that interested. Oh sure, it's a big fish in Loch Ness, but it's certainly not the Monster. My guess is it's something that has come in from the sea, which would explain why its so rarely seen. Meaning it isn't even in the Loch most of the time."