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Reader Comments

50 people have commented so far.

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Was this close to chernobyl ?
comment# 1 - Robert Rolin · Onalaska ,Texas · Nov 14, 2007 @ 3:56pm

Now that would eaxplain alot now would it ?
comment# 2 - blackbob · Guam · Nov 15, 2007 @ 9:39pm

It is a tadpole shrimp, do a search for it. They are only a few centimeters long. The photos give no reference to it's size but it certainly doesn't look 5 feet. No credible sources have to say anything about this story, if it were real you would probably see very detailed images from an autopsy table, or perhaps since the pond was full of so much movement someone would have pulled up a living one.
comment# 3 - Jacob · Fresno · Nov 16, 2007 @ 10:05am

A Horseshoe crab, they can be pretty big. Do a google search for pics and you´ll see. Ole!
comment# 4 - Salvador Escalante · Palma de Mallorca, Spain · Dec 17, 2007 @ 4:30am

horseshoecrabeeladonosaurus
comment# 5 - Billy · Calfornia · Mar 25, 2008 @ 6:29am

Just googled "horseshoe crab" and even though they look similar, its not.
comment# 6 - aaron · australia · Apr 17, 2008 @ 8:36pm

"tried to bite them" ??? Really ? It's clearly not a horseshoe crab, but if it's in that family, horse shoe crabs don't have teeth. I'm surprised we havent heard more about it.
comment# 7 - JennJennJenn · Trenton, NJ · May 15, 2008 @ 1:03pm

Considering the large amount of pollution in the area theres is a possibility of a mutation in someone creature that created this one. I have seen many other pictures of different creatures that all look similar to this one.
comment# 8 - Dylan · Wichta · May 30, 2008 @ 9:13pm

for those of you saying it was a genetic mutation caused by radiation, obviously don't know much about how biology works; Mutation DOESN'T work that way.
comment# 9 - James · Uk · Jun 2, 2008 @ 3:13pm

Triops, Notastraca, Lepidurus batesoni. Probably either one of those 3.
comment# 10 - James Strong · Orizaba, Mexico · Jun 4, 2008 @ 8:31am

I have seen these creatures in freshwater streams and ponds, but they are very small and Arctic Charr and Trout eat them.I hope they dont get that large up north.
comment# 11 - Shane Goeson · Inuvik, , Northwest Territories,Canada · Aug 6, 2008 @ 3:10pm

it is a tadpole shrimp,oonly it grows to 5 cm not 5 feet. It turns out that whoever translated the original Russian description changed "5 foto" (mean 5 photographs) into "5 foot"! Tadpole shrimp rarely get more than 5 CENTIMETERS in length!
comment# 12 - dave sieulal · trinidad · Aug 7, 2008 @ 2:59pm

If that is a picture of a tadpole shrimp than the photo was magnified. Another thing tadpole shrimp have a split in the tale so it resembles coat tails. If anyone has more information on this please up date me.
comment# 13 - Aiden · Summerville SC · Aug 7, 2008 @ 5:14pm

Just checked out youtube and it shows a simalar tadpole shrimp about 12 inches found in ukraine. that would probably be what that thinger is
comment# 14 - holli · charleston usa · Aug 7, 2008 @ 5:41pm

I was in Chelyabinsk this summer and my friend caught one of these. It was not 5 feet. but it was close to 6-8 inches. You can see a video of it here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccfgXAM3IEE
comment# 15 - Peter · Stamford, CT · Sep 26, 2008 @ 8:35am

It's my stepmother...Thought I finally got rid of her but she showed up again!
comment# 16 - Greg Bolko · San Antonio, · Oct 5, 2008 @ 6:40pm

This creature isn't any of those you guys listed....I checked them all and though similar, it clearly has differences from them all. With it's structure I would say it is unlikely that it would be capable of biting someone on land...they should have just kept their distance instead of killing it. Men are so ignorant they'll destroy anything....
comment# 17 - Samantha · Nowhere, Ky · Oct 15, 2008 @ 9:17am

Triops longicaudatus is a smaller version of this. Dont know why there would be a same creature but major size difference.
comment# 18 - Bob · Jamaica (maybe) · Dec 14, 2008 @ 9:05am

that thing, whatever it is, sure don't look too friendly
comment# 19 - the next president · inside your mind · Dec 18, 2008 @ 9:19am

it is a trilobite a prehistoric crustation some were one to two feet long but I am amazed at this. contact the musem of natural history they will comeferm what it is if I am wrong. good going boys.
comment# 20 - derek · USA wisconsin · Jan 9, 2009 @ 9:28am

Bob is Right, it is a triop, i used to grow them in a small terrarium and they grew 4 inches.
comment# 21 - Austin · Lowell,Massachussettes · Jan 9, 2009 @ 7:51pm

I believe that is a triops. The person who found this is very lucky. He could make lots of money. A lot of people want to buy triops eggs and hatch them. I wish I found some. Uh...
comment# 22 - Shyam · Fort Mcmurray, Alberta · Jan 17, 2009 @ 7:16pm

I enlarged it. It's a triops all right, and if you compare the size to the droplets on the lower pic, you'll see that it's no more than 2 inches tops. I really want to believe it, but i just can't.
comment# 23 - God of Radiator keys · Where the keys go. · Mar 12, 2009 @ 2:27pm

Looks like a male triops to me, theyree prehistoric creatures whose eggs have been dormant for hundreds of centuries etcetc... whose to say that the triops didnt change size over the years, also the tail looks kinda different cos its probably male....yes, male triops do exist cya i have a headache
comment# 24 - Meandmytriopbabies · Triopolis · Apr 8, 2009 @ 7:32am

its a horse-shoe crab
comment# 25 - s cunningham · northern ireland · Jul 7, 2009 @ 6:19am

That is not a tadpole shrimp. It is more closely related to a Horseshoe crab. Look at the primitive eyes. Such are related to Trilobites. Many creatures thought to be extinct really are not. For example the Chrinoids (flower looking animals). They were found alive and multiplying by an amateur marine bioligist in the Carribean.
comment# 26 - Jim · Chandler,AZ · Jul 7, 2009 @ 8:09pm

It is a Triops they live in puddles or places that have water for only a short time like just a matter of weeks. They live about one or two months lay there eggs. The puddle dries up and their eggs can live for decades until another flood fills the puddle and they hatch and start the cycle over. What is interesting is that the eggs have to dry out and then get wet again before they hatch. You can buy them online and grow them yourself. http://www.meijer.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=107864&CAWELAID=317734779e
comment# 27 - Joe · Fort Worth · Aug 25, 2009 @ 7:54pm

Me and my brother found a few of these in a creek in northern AZ. He took them to his science teacher at school and he couldn't figure out what they were. I thought they were trilobites . But i just looked up what jacob said below and they are in fact Tadpole shrimp aka Shield shrimp. Wilkipedia says the eggs can lay dry for 25 years waiting for water to hatch. No wonder they are still around. They are worldwide it says. There must be more study of these somewhere. Very cool.
comment# 28 - Chris · Russell Springs, Kentucky · Oct 22, 2009 @ 3:48pm

IT is A Triops, AKA AquaSaur I have them in my house in a tank right now.. and They do Not bite!!!
comment# 29 - Tiffany · Canada · Feb 21, 2010 @ 10:24am

this is not a tadpole they are already here and they are hiding among us in plain sight
comment# 30 - sponge bob · trinidad · Feb 28, 2010 @ 10:01am

Humans need to step off our box and realize we know nothing besides what we have discovered or figured out and even those seem to change so often. How could it surprise that just maybe something we can't comprehend, or fatham might be roaming around or getting ready to change from it's form we have known for so long into something different.we humans are( excuse me ) most humans seem to have this complex in believing we are almighty. Not so :) peace
comment# 31 - Chad · Louisville, ky · Apr 7, 2010 @ 3:42pm

IT'S A HORSESHOE CRAB
comment# 32 - ROB TERRELL · U.S. · Apr 19, 2010 @ 5:40pm

That's my dang Sea Monkey ! Geehaw, she sure got big !
comment# 33 - Gipper · Louisville Kentucky · May 21, 2010 @ 1:24pm

That's a Triops longicaudatus... http://mytriops.com/articles/triops_intro.stm
comment# 34 - Karan · Auckland, New Zealand · Jul 11, 2010 @ 3:11am

Its is Shield Shrimp or Tadpole Shrimp
comment# 35 - Engineer · US · Aug 3, 2010 @ 6:32pm

i looked up the tadpole shrimp and they differnt tales it could be a differnt type but you can tell there still in the same class. but i still think we should check into it further
comment# 36 - Timmy · us · Oct 11, 2010 @ 12:13pm

tadpole....shrimp.....horshoe crab.... triops.....genetic mutation......???????????.....who is mourning for the poor dead thing....??????....can someone please be a little compassionate.....???????
comment# 37 - Karishma · Chennai , India · Oct 17, 2010 @ 10:55pm

I think that creature is very cool but it is sad that they killed it. I mean if would be alive we could of learned more about it and find out what it is and/or how it got to be that way.
comment# 38 - Elizabeth · U.S. · Dec 5, 2010 @ 3:22pm

yeah killing this one was wrong. we could have learned its habbits, were it feeds, its friends,,,and then killed em all. you know why we can't prove bigfoot NO ONE HAS KILLED ONE. hey if u got to kill it to prove it was real. stuff happens then u die.
comment# 39 - ed · ego usa · Dec 26, 2010 @ 11:21pm

Maybe it's a tadpole shrink with Gigantism? like andre the giant had. it does happen in other animals and even insects however it's alot rarer then in humans.
comment# 40 - Alex · America · Jan 1, 2011 @ 11:11pm

its good but horror.
comment# 41 - tanishka · india , delhi · Jun 20, 2011 @ 9:02pm

so you see it is a triop, it also has a split tail, only in the pics you can really see it because its dead and the two ends are kinda together, but if you look closely you can see where the split begins
comment# 42 - yo · moma · Jul 19, 2011 @ 1:16pm

It's a hoax!
comment# 43 - Bill peterson · Grande prairie canada · Feb 1, 2012 @ 6:17am

omg at this store were i live they sell those. they come in a box with eggs of them a tank and sand. i got some and they hatched it was soooooo cool there called ummm.... tryodds (spelt that wrong) they are pronounced (try-oeds)
comment# 44 - shay · florida · Mar 8, 2012 @ 1:25pm

These are very commonly found in HK seas and sea food shops though I don't know the English name and some are as big as the giant lobsters. Its a delicacy in HK and easily caught while fishing.
comment# 45 - Arryan · Hong Kong · Jun 9, 2012 @ 7:43am

The fact is that this is nothing like anything we've seen because it comes from fresh, underground water reservoirs. I for one am very excited to see where this goes.
comment# 46 - Stephanie · Reno · Dec 1, 2012 @ 2:28pm

I am a marine biologist and they are not horseshoe crabs. they look like very large arthropods called triops although they only grow to a couple inches max! judging by the detail in the concrete and the scale of the diamond plate steel i'd say they are no where near the supposed 5 feet in length. the area they were found in is still highly radioactive which has been known to cause gigantism in invertebrates.
comment# 47 - Adam · USA · Dec 3, 2012 @ 6:53pm

This link contains the actual photos at full resolution, its a tadpole shrimp http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/no-mystpix/
comment# 48 - Antonio · USA · Dec 4, 2012 @ 5:50pm

Tadpole shrimp. Definitely
comment# 49 - johan · SA · Dec 28, 2012 @ 12:10am

Why did those dumba$ kill the thing it could be a amazing discovery. Ps tadpole shrimp have two appendages on their tails
comment# 50 - Dan · Australia · Apr 20, 2013 @ 12:59pm