An international research team led by University of Otago’s Professor Neil Gemmell is using the latest DNA technologies to compile a census of life in Loch Ness, a large freshwater lake best known for sightings of the long-necked ‘monster.’
Loch Ness. Image credit: Gregory J. Kingsley.
“There have been more than 1,000 registered sightings of the Loch Ness ‘monster,’ including two in the last month. They have sparked various theories. Some say the loch is home to a prehistoric relic, while others believe it’s a giant sturgeon, catfish, or just a log or a boat wake,” Professor Gemmell said.
“Obviously, the hook here is that if ‘Nessie’ is present in the deep, dark and mysterious waters of Loch Ness (for the record I am not a believer, but open to being wrong) then we might find DNA sequences that will help us figure out its biological basis.”
Professor Gemmell and his colleagues from the Loch Ness Centre, the Loch Ness Project, and the Universities of the Highlands and Islands, Otago, Copenhagen, and Hull decided to try an innovative approach called environmental DNA (eDNA), which looks for the genetic material of target species in samples of water where they might be.
“Usually if we want to know what sorts of animals live in a particular place, they have to spot them somehow. Sometimes that just means looking out for a particular species and counting them but other times it requires a more invasive approach,” they explained.
“eDNA means that we can discover what’s in an area even if the creatures are small, not present in large numbers, or shy.”
“eDNA is reasonably new so still has some form of novelty,” Professor Gemmell added.
“But, when you link its power to document life in a given system with the world’s most famous body of water, within which a monster ‘Nessie’ is reputed to reside, people really take notice.”
Hoaxed photo of the Loch Ness ‘monster’ from April 21, 1934.
In June 2018, the team collected 259 water samples from various parts of the loch, including its chilly depths.
“We carried out shore sampling right around Loch Ness by car and small boat, as well as several nearby lochs as controls,” the researchers said.
“In the evenings deep water samples were taken, down to almost 660 feet (200 m), up and down the loch.”
The samples are now being extracted at the University of Hull before going to Laboratoire D’Ecologie Alpine in Grenoble for metabarcoding and then sequencing in July and August.
Next, the gene sequences will be analyzed and compared to samples stored on DNA databases to identify each species present in Loch Ness. Results are expected in early 2019.
“Wouldn’t it be amazing if we did find something extraordinary during our investigation,” Professor Gemmell said.
“We expect the project to document new species of life, particularly bacteria, and provide important data on the extent of several new invasive species recently seen in the loch, such as Pacific pink salmon, while also gaining a better understanding of the native species that reside there.”
“Is there anything else, perhaps something unusual, such as a giant catfish, sturgeon or eel, or a species unknown to science? It seems unlikely, but who knows?”
