Is there a leviathan in the ocean? Experts were recently baffled by the appearance of “a giant cluster of waves over 80 feet high and spanning 2,000 miles” that appeared off the western coast of Africa, per Newsweek.
While many were quick to share theories about what caused this anomaly, the organization who created the visualizer, Ventusky, told Newsweek that this was actually the result of an error in their modeling.
“It was a model error,” explained David Prantl, a spokesperson for Ventusky. “Ventusky serves as a visualization platform that collects data from various sources. The error originated in the model itself, so it was also reflected in the visualization on our website. In this case, the model is from the German Meteorological Service (DWD), with whom we are in contact and they have already resolved this error.”
Although Prantl noted that “problems can occur in such a large database,” conspiracy-minded internet users have tied this incident to other glitches with Ventusky—as well as a recent spat of whale deaths—to reach an improbable conclusion.
In a video shared by TikTok user Isaac Spears (@isaacspears10), he shares numerous theories regarding alternate explanations for this glitch. These range from government experimentation to leviathans to megalodons and more.
Leviathan fever
For those who are unaware, a “leviathan” is “a primordial sea serpent” in Jewish mythology, per Encyclopedia Britannica. Leviathans have many descriptions across various religious texts; therefore, identifying which traits specifically define a leviathan is difficult.
That said, a “leviathan” as inferred by these TikTok users has never been scientifically observed, and leviathans in general are regarded as a myth. While megalodons did once exist, they went extinct around 2.6 million years ago and were only 18 meters long—a stark contrast to the massive spot on the Ventusky map.
In an email to the Daily Dot, Ventusky confirmed that the return of this anomaly was another error.
“This is the same problem as before,” wrote Prantl, linking to a recent post on X (formerly Twitter).
“If you look at the data from the second model, it is obvious that there is no anomaly and everything is fine in this area,” he added. “The problem with the data is being addressed by the official German Meteorological Institute, which provides our data.”
Still, the fictional nature of the leviathan, the extinction of the megalodon, and the confirmation that this is simply another glitch haven’t stopped some internet users from suspecting that something is amiss in our oceans.
Many TikTokers have tied the appearance of this anomaly to recent whale deaths, with some claiming that the whales were attempting to “warn” the public about what is soon to happen.
For example, several TikTok users point to an incident in which 84 pilot whales were seen apparently beaching themselves in Western Australia, per ABC. Others link to an event last month in which 160 pilot whales were stranded on an Australian beach, or to other incidents around the world in which this has occurred.
@shawnthemodel WHALES WARNING HUMANS!🐋🐳 #Whatisleviathan #whaleswarninghumans2024 #leviathaninbible #whatshappeningintheocean2024 #whalesrunningfromsomething2024 #frequencytheoryocean #whatsgoingonintheoceanrightnow #fypシ゚viral #greenscreenvideo #fypage ♬ original sound – ShawnTheModel
The problem? The aforementioned 84-whale event happened last year, and there’s little evidence to suggest that there are significantly more whales beaching themselves now than in the past.
Why are the whales beaching?
No one is sure what causes whales to beach themselves—theories range from accident and illness to a response to upsets in their social structure. However, when stories about these massive beachings first sparked discussion last year, experts were quick to say that the average person has nothing to worry about.
“Experts say there is no evidence that whales or other marine mammals across the globe are beaching themselves more often. In fact, the behavior is a relatively commonplace one that [Andrew Read, a professor of Marine biology at Duke University] said has been observed for centuries,” reads a piece in USA Today. “More likely, scientists say that awareness of the phenomenon may be growing, leading to more reports of beachings than before.”
So there’s definitely no leviathan then?
To summarize, the “anomaly” is likely a simple repeat of a known glitch, a leviathan is a creature from mythology and is not present in our oceans, megalodons have been extinct for millions of years, and there do not appear to be more whale mass beaching events than in previous years. Just another sign to not always believe everything you see on the internet.
@dontghostme What do you think? 🤔 #leviathan #seacreatures #ocean #whales ♬ Creepy simple horror ambient(1270589) – howlingindicator
We’ve reached out to Ventusky via email, and @oschinothadon, @isaacspears10, @dontghostme, @shawnthemodel, and @nizzyconspiracy via Instagram DM,
