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