A group of New Zealand scientists trying to track down the Loch Ness monster have revealed there is no evidence it exists.
Professor Neil Gemmell, from the University of Otago, and his team had been testing hundreds of water samples from three different depths of the Loch, in an attempt to capture the monster's DNA for more than a year.
As well as water samples, the team collected fur, feathers, skin, scales and even faeces left behind by other animals. The samples had been sent all over the world for analysis.
Gemmell told reporters in Scotland on Thursday morning (local time) there was "absolutely no evidence" of "any reptilian sequences" in their samples.
"I think we can be fairly sure there is probably not a giant scaly reptile swimming around in Loch Ness."
The idea that giant fish might also be in the lake was also tested, he said.
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"There may be giant catfish in Loch Ness, but we didn't detect any of them."
However, he said there was one idea which remained plausible.
"There are large amounts of eel DNA in Loch Ness; eels are very plentiful in the Loch system.
"Is it possible what people are seeing is a giant eel? Well, maybe.
"We don't know if the eel DNA we are detecting is gigantic or just many small eels.
"It's something we could plausibly test further."
Speaking from Scotland earlier on Thursday morning (local time), Newshub's Europe correspondent Lloyd Burr told The Project the Kiwi researchers had been to 250 locations throughout the lake.
"There are 500 million different sequences that they have discovered," he said. "They've compared them to a whole lot of other living things."
The Loch brings in about NZ$84 million to the local economy each year.
Burr said previous studies throughout the years had disproven and proven the theory of the Loch Ness monster.
Newshub.
