Aquatic Monsters Site References

Illustrated London News Version of the Daedalus Encounter 1848

Paxton, C.G.M. A cumulative species description curve for large freshwater animals. (In preparation for Freshwater Biology)

Paxton, C.G.M. (2001) Predicting pelagic peculiarities. Crypto Dracontology Special 1, 60-65. Available from here.

Anon. (1998) Myths, monsters and maths. The Economist pg. 137. November 28th 1998.

Paxton, C.G.M (1998) A cumulative species description curve for large open water marine fauna. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 78, 1389-1391.
A cumulative species description curve (from 1830 to 1995) is given for open water marine fauna in excess of 2 m long in the major axis of the body. This curve has not yet reached an asymptote. Estimation by maximum likelihood fit of a hyperbola suggests a maximum of some 47 species awaiting formal scientific description and an approximate current rate of description of one new species every 5.3 years. Consideration of the most recently described species and recent observations by field workers suggests that any imminent species descriptions are most likely to be cetaceans.