Help needed identifying unknown lobster / scorpion like creature

reply to post by FrancoUn-American


Hi Franco,

They're all great! But no match for my sighting unfortunately. The 1st/2nd and last ones are too "rounded", the other one is closer in shape but (judging by the description card) much too small. The thing I saw was at least 20cm long.
It's amazing how many creatures are crawling out of the woodwork here!

Thanks for trying!

G

reply to post by Gordi The Drummer


Hey Gordi
Do you think you may be able to sketch it out so we can get a better idea about what you saw?
Even if your drawing skills are poor it may help us identify it by anatomy alone.
For example if you can try to remember exactly the body dimensions. Did it have 3 body parts like a head , thorax, and abdomen, or did it just have head and body alone? Did it have a tail that curled upward like a scorpion or did is have a tail that curled under? If you can even simply draw a top view and side view I think it would go a long way in helping us ID the creature.

reply to post by snowen20


Thanks snowen,

great ideas there!

Problem is... I only saw it for a few brief moments, and I only have a vague impression of it... the overall size/shape/colour (as described earlier).

If I tried to draw it, I'd have to "fill" so many gaps that it might lead us all off in the wrong direction!

I honestly can't remember the exact detail of the head/tail etc

Just that it was about 20-25cm long.
Dark grey in colour.
Sturdy looking, armoured maybe?
6-8 strong legs, coming straight out from the body, then bending at right angles, down towards the ground.
It moved VERY fast, I had to jog to try and keep up with it.
The legs were in straight rows, each leg was about the same size/length, so that the overall shape of the whole creature was rectangular when viewed from above (Not "rounded" like most crabs).
It ran straight forward, not crabbing sideways.
It "scuttled" with a very mechanical motion.
The closest images that I've seen so far are of kinds of lobster.
I don't remember it having large claws or anything, but may have missed that, likewise the tail?

I'm guessing that it's a sea creature, which can run on land, as it was seen next to the sea, after a storm. (May have been washed ashore by the storm?)
Or possibly something from the sewers? as it disappeared down into a storm drain hole in the kerb stones of the pavement.

Thanks again for trying to help!

G

Shoulda stomped that badboy. *scuttle scuttle scuttl- STOMP* Then you would have had everything you needed. A body, a habitat, and a story. Just like other cryptids of this nature, the only surefire way to prove it is to kill it, have a body, then no one can say a word against you. Sure, it might be 'cruel', sure, it might violate some laws, but it was in the name of science. I can understand some initial fear, but think about it. This thing was what, one and a half feet long? You're about four times that size. There isn't a lot it could do if you decided to get a little stomp happy. Just like sea monsters, bigfoot, reptilian beasts, lizardmen, et cetera, a body is quite enough evidence. Dangerous, maybe, ballsy, most certainly, but if one were to pull such a feat off... the world would view these things differently.

reply to post by MasterCrix


Ahhh Master!

In hindsight.....

It happened really fast! and it was SCARY!

As far as I know, we don't have many (any?) large, armoured, Scorpion/Lobster-looking creatures running around in Scotland. (Plenty lobster/crabs etc IN the water, not running down the street!!)

I'm 6'3" tall, weighing about 200lbs, I'm not easily frightened, but this thing was so strange looking, and you're mind is trying to comprehend what it's seeing.... you're thinking.... wtf? that doesn't "belong" here!! huge scorpion????

Now I've never seen a scorpion on the loose (just captive ones!), but I know enough about them NOT to try stomp on them!! (Those guys can Sting!)

I froze for a second, as it scuttled by, then I tried to catch up with it, to get a better look, and figure out what it was / what to do, but it ran down into a storm drain before I had the chance to do anything.

Everybody I told, (apart from here on ATS) thought that I was crazy.

You just NEVER see anything like this here.
It was BIG, It was SCARY, It was FAST, it was Armoured!

If you can imagine a large Lobster, but very dark grey/black, and very mobile (lt moved like a scorpion), that's about as close as I can describe it. I still get the heebyjeebies thinking about it!

I really do wish I had managed to catch it, film it, photograph it, "stomp" it But I didn't manage to do that, so best I can do is look for suggestions as to what it might have been.

PS - Maybe NEXT time.....

Maybe it escaped from a local zoo or aquarium - wouldn't be the first time that foreign creatures have escaped

reply to post by blackcat99


Hi Blackcat,

There is actually an aquarium / marine biology station nearby, less than 1/2 mile away, so that might not be a bad suggestion.

Trouble is, one of the people I asked about it works there.... and looked at me like I was mad!

It's also a very small island community (especially in the winter) and I'm sure word would have reached the local newspaper, or by word of mouth, if any strange creature had escaped, but I suppose you never know.... maybe they'd try to cover it up?

I did some research, and I think you may have saw a Waterlouse.

They are around Scotland and have somewhat of a scorpion-like appearance.

upload.wikimedia.org...

You may have also found a Bristletail, an animal that also fits those descriptions.

archaeognatha.myspecies.info...

a reply to: countmustard

Not dis-similar in overall "look" but i believe that those are MUCH smaller creatures than the one I saw.
In saying that... the area is not too far from a Nuclear Power Station so.... LOL

Thanks for looking!

G

a reply to: syntheticbutterfly

And most definitely not be moving fast in the winter, pretty much anything land based like that needs warmth to move fast.