The "Big Red Fish" in Kanas Lake: The Tuvans Say It Has Lived for Hundreds of Years

North of Xinjiang, against the Altai Mountains, there is a lake called Kanas, very beautiful. Tuvans live by the lake, and they have a legend that there is a huge monster in the lake that swallows horses drinking water, even camels.

In the eighties, researchers went to survey and said they saw a long red shadow on the water surface by the lake, like a fish, trailing a long wake. A teacher from Xinjiang University looked down from the mountain and said he saw several big fish swimming in rows in the water, each several meters long. In the twenty years after, tourists and photographers also captured it: rows of white waves on the lake surface moving in one direction, as if something very large was in the water.

Experts explain that there is a big fish in the lake called taimen, locally called "Big Red Fish" because during spawning season their bodies turn red. It is one of the largest cold-water fish in freshwater; actually measured, the largest is about two meters, some say they can grow to ten meters, but there is no evidence. They live in cold water, the lake bottom is very deep, and people cannot see them.

The Tuvans say the lake monster is their guardian deity. They used not to eat fish from the lake because they feared offending the lake god.

Now there is a fish-viewing pavilion in the scenic area, built on a hillside, overlooking the whole lake surface. Every year people climb up and look through telescopes. Some say they saw it, others say they only saw mist on the water.

#Paranormal #网络转载 #未解动物