# Foxon 2023: The Loch Ness Monster: If It's Real, Could It Be an Eel?

> Floe Foxon, 2023. 8 records on Mysteries Department cite it. The only peer-reviewed statistical test of the eel hypothesis.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CRFX2124F3T/the-loch-ness-monster-if-its-real-could-it-be-an-eel  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Sources](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources)[Loch Ness](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/loch-ness)Foxon 2023

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# The Loch Ness Monster: If It's Real, Could It Be an Eel?

Floe Foxon, 2023. _JMIRx Bio 1: e49063_.

Fits skew-normal and generalised extreme value distributions to European eel length data from Loch Ness and other European waters. The chance of a 1 m eel in the loch is about 1 in 50,000, plausible given the fish stock; the chance of one over 6 m is essentially zero, so eels may explain some smaller sightings but not large ones.

**Loch Ness** Articledoi: **[10.2196/49063](https://doi.org/10.2196/49063)** Checked against the original0

## What it's used for here

The only peer-reviewed statistical test of the eel hypothesis.

## Cited by on this site 8 records

[Large but ordinary eels (around a metre) account for some reports of smaller animals.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/loch-ness/answers/ANS0CRFXG6670PY/large-but-ordinary-eels-around-a-metre-account-for-some)

Answer

ANS

[European eel length data used for the eel probability analysis](https://mysteriesdept.com/datasets/DAT0CRFXMB030J4/european-eel-length-data-used-for-the-eel-probability)

Dataset

DAT

[A 1 m eel in the loch has a probability of about 1 in 50,000, reasonable given the fish stock.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/loch-ness/evidence/EVD0CRFXGE03DS4/a-1-m-eel-in-the-loch-has-a-probability-of-about-1-in-50-000)

Evidence

EVD

[The chance of a 1 m eel in the loch is about 1 in 50,000; of one over 6 m, essentially zero.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/loch-ness/evidence/EVD0CRFXDZW36P4/the-chance-of-a-1-m-eel-in-the-loch-is-about-1-in-50-000-of)

Evidence

EVD

[The probability of an eel over 6 m is essentially zero.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/loch-ness/evidence/EVD0CRFXGXM7RZV/the-probability-of-an-eel-over-6-m-is-essentially-zero)

Evidence

EVD

[Foxon estimates the probability of very large eels](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/loch-ness/events/EVT0CRFX9BE19QG/foxon-estimates-the-probability-of-very-large-eels)

EVT

[Loch Ness](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/loch-ness)

The mystery article

MYS

[Could large eels account for some sightings?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/loch-ness/questions/QST0CRFXAJG6ZTA/could-large-eels-account-for-some-sightings)

Question

QST

## Cite it

```
Foxon, F. (2023). The Loch Ness Monster: If It's Real, Could It Be an Eel?. JMIRx Bio 1: e49063. https://doi.org/10.2196/49063
```

[Read it free at doi.org](https://doi.org/10.2196/49063)

Key

**SRC** 0CRFX2124F3T

Kind

Journal article

Rights

CC-BY-4.0

Kept

27 Oct 2026, for editors

Checked

Against the published article

Added by

[apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo)

The record

Bibliographic records are CC0. Take this one as CSL-JSON, BibTeX or RIS.

[CSL-JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CRFX2124F3T/the-loch-ness-monster-if-its-real-could-it-be-an-eel/csl.json)