The hiker had been taking pictures of the opposite shore when he thought he saw a large fish under the surface of the water.
A tourist was visiting the famous Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands when he believes he caught a glimpse of the mythical creature.
Steve Challice, from Southampton, was on holiday with his brother when they decided to visit Urquhart Castle, located on the banks of the famous loch.
At some point during their scenic walk, Steve stopped to take some pictures of the opposite shoreline, when he appeared to witness something unusually large move under the water.
He told Daily Record that it wasn’t until sometime later, when he was looking back through the photographs, that he realised just how strange and unusual the sighting was.
“I started taking a couple of shots and then this big fish came to the surface and then went back down again,” he said.
“It only appeared in one shot and to be honest that was something of a fluke. I watched for a while as you can see from the last picture but didn’t see it again.”
Steve estimated the creature to be about 8 foot long, and once he’d found the mysterious image, he decided to post it online.
Within days, the post was flooded with comments from people insisting that the ‘snapped’ entity was indeed the elusive Loch Ness monster.
Steve, himself, was not convinced.
“My guess would be that what I captured was a catfish or something like that. As seals get in from the sea then I expect that’s what it is and that would explain why these sightings are so few and far between.”
A digital photography expert criticised the claim from the online masses, saying that the photo appears altered due to the colour saturation and indistinct lining of the supposed animal in the main picture.
Steve’s scepticism was challenged by Roland Watson, who runs the Loch Ness mystery blog.
Roland got in touch with Steve after seeing his post on social media, and told him “if this is a genuine picture of a creature in Loch Ness, it would easily rank in the top three of all time.”
Steve’s photograph is one of several claims in recent years that the mystical beast of Loch Ness really does exist.
Last August, a team of researchers claimed to have captured the ‘first ever video’ of The Loch Ness Monster – using a thermal imaging drone.
The image apparently showed a large animal on the banks of the famous lake – and could have been Nessie, experts said at the time.
It was captured at night using heat sensing drone technology – as part of a mass hunt for the elusive creature in Scotland.
Production company Dragonfly Films used thermal imaging tech as part of the hunt – and believed that they may have filmed Nessie near the shore.
The project’s producer Tim Whittard said at the time: “These thermal drones allowed us to see the loch in infrared.
“With this equipment, we were able to see immediately if any animal breaks the water’s surface.
“This thermal imaging technology has been available for several years now, and it seems remarkable that no one has yet deployed such equipment in an effort to investigate this mystery.
“It did detect an unusual heat signature on one of the thermal imaging drones – a large mass near the shore.”
The footage captured will be included in an episode of the TV series Weird Britain by Dragonfly Films.
It is expected to be broadcast on television in the UK and released online later this year.
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