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National Sea Serpent Day

Fun · August 7

Sea serpents are the long, looping creatures of sailors' tales, and this day invites a closer look at the legend and the real animals behind it.

National Sea Serpent Day falls on Saturday, August 7, 2027. That is 284 days away.

A sea serpent is a creature of sailors' stories: something long and coiling, glimpsed briefly from a ship's rail before it slips back under the water. The legend turns up in many seafaring cultures, and the details shift with each telling.

Classic sightings tend to share a look. There is a long neck held high above the waves, a small head, and a row of humps trailing behind. That arched neck is what makes the image so strange, because fish do not have a shape like that.

Part of the fun is wondering what people actually saw. Real animals can look odd at a distance. The oarfish is a very long, thin, ribbon-like fish that lives in deep water and is rarely seen near the surface. A line of porpoises swimming in a row can read as one long body with humps. Floating kelp, driftwood and a choppy sea can do the rest, especially for a tired lookout at dusk.

Most people mark the day with stories. Old maps decorated with coiling monsters in the empty ocean are a good start, and so are books of sea legends or a trip to an aquarium to see real deep-sea oddities. Kids tend to like drawing their own serpent, humps and all.

The tales are easy to tell aloud, and they often end the same way, with the creature gone and only rough water left behind.

Ways to celebrate

• Look up old sea charts decorated with drawn sea monsters.
• Read a collection of sailors' legends or sea stories aloud.
• Learn about the oarfish and other long deep-sea fish.
• Draw your own sea serpent and give it a name.
• Visit a local aquarium to see real ocean oddities.

Dates

Categories: Fun days