Carabuncle : Freshwater Monster of Ireland, as well as a mysterious South American animal.
Etymology:
From the Latin carbunculus (“gem”).
Physical description:
Serpentine. Said to have a shining, precious stone or a pearl hanging from its head that glitters like silver in the night.
Behavior:
Nocturnal.
Distribution:
Lough Geal, on Mount Brandon, County Kerry, Ireland; the Straits of Magellan, Argentina; Paraguay.
Sources:
- Gonzalo Fernándo de Oviedo y Valdés, Natural History of the West Indies, trans. Sterling A. Stoudemire [1526] (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1959);
- Martín del Barco Centenera, The Argentine and the Conquest of the River Plate [1602] (Buenos Aires: Instituto Cultural Walter Owen, 1965);
- Charles Smith, The Antient and Present State of the County of Kerry (Dublin: Charles Smith, 1756), p. 124;
- Henry Hart, “Notes on the Plants of Some of the Mountain Ranges of Ireland,” Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Science, ser. 2, 4 (1884): 211, 220;
- Nathaniel Colgan, “Field Notes on the Folklore of Irish Plants and Animals,” Irish Naturalist 23 (March 1914): 53–64.
SOURCE:
Mysterious Creatures – A Guide to Cryptozoology written by George M. Eberhart – Copyright © 2002 by George M. Eberhart
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