Fish or Monster? Complicated and Confusing

The legend says that a Mongolian herdsman drove tens of horses to drink water on the bank of Kanas Lake, but the whole horses were eaten by “Lake Monster”. Added with occurrence of mysterious loss of horses, cattle and sheep near the lake every year, the hearsay of “Lake Monster” in Kanas Lake of Xinjiang then spreads.

In 1985, Xinjiang Daily reported the noticeable news: “giant red fish found in Kanas Lake”, saying teachers and students of Department of Biology with Xinjiang University saw tens of giant red fish on lake surface, only head of which each had width more than one meters, fish body about 10-15 meters and weight over four tons.

In 1987, a comprehensive scientific investigation team came to Kanas Lake to explore the mystery of “Lake Monster”. Through two years’ investigation, they concluded that “lake monster red fish is large-sized taimen”, initially unveiling the mystery of “Lake Monster”.

By far, however, people still know little about the rare giant taimen. How many giant taimens on earth at the bottom of Kanas Lake? how big is the largest taimen? and have cattle, horses and sheep really been eaten by taimen? The real answers remain unknown.