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A sea serpent or sea dragon is a type of sea monster either wholly or partly serpentine. Sightings of sea serpents have been reported for hundreds of years, and continue to be claimed today. Cryptozoologist Bruce Champagne identified more than 1,200 purported sea serpent sightings. It is currently believed that the sightings can be best explained as known animals such as oarfish, whales, or sharks (in particular, the frilled shark).〔Sue Hamilton, ''Monsters'', page 24 (ABDO Publishing Company, 2007). ISBN 978-1-59928-771-3〕 Some cryptozoologists have suggested that sea serpents are relict plesiosaurs, mosasaurs or other Mesozoic marine reptiles, an idea often associated with lake monsters such as the Loch Ness Monster. ==In mythology== In Norse mythology, ''Jörmungandr'', or "Midgarðsormr" was a sea serpent so long that it encircled the entire world, Midgard. Some stories report of sailors mistaking its back for a chain of islands. Sea serpents also appear frequently in later Scandinavian folklore, particularly in that of Norway.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.ask.com/question/sea-serpent )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://cryptidchronicles.tumblr.com/post/19539619204/mystery-of-the-sea-serpent )〕 In 1028 AD, Saint Olaf is said to have killed a sea serpent in Valldal, Norway, throwing its body onto the mountain Syltefjellet. Marks on the mountain are associated with the legend.〔http://loype.kulturminneaaret2009.no/kulturminneloyper/heilag-olav-i-valldal/ormen-i-syltefjellet/image/image_view_fullscreen〕 In Swedish ecclesiastic and writer Olaus Magnus's ''Carta marina'', many marine monsters of varied form, including an immense sea serpent, appear. Moreover, in his 1555 work ''History of the Northern Peoples'', Magnus gives the following description of a Norwegian sea serpent: Those who sail up along the coast of Norway to trade or to fish, all tell the remarkable story of how a serpent of fearsome size, 200 feet long and 20 feet wide, resides in rifts and caves outside Bergen. On bright summer nights this serpent leaves the caves to eat calves, lambs and pigs, or it fares out to the sea and feeds on sea nettles, crabs and similar marine animals. It has ell-long hair hanging from its neck, sharp black scales and flaming red eyes. It attacks vessels, grabs and swallows people, as it lifts itself up like a column from the water.''〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://library.thinkquest.org/08aug/01219/Nrsmyth.html?tql-iframe )〕 Sea serpents were known to seafaring cultures in the Mediterranean and Near East, appearing in both mythology (the Babylonian Labbu) and in apparent eye-witness accounts (Aristotle's Historia Animalium). In the Aeneid, a pair of sea serpents killed Laocoön and his sons when Laocoön argued against bringing the Trojan Horse into Troy. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sea serpent」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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