Nessie hunter believes Loch Ness monster is ‘giant catfish’

But Mr Feltham, 52, said he was now convinced that Nessie was a Wels catfish - a giant fearsome fish that can grow as long as 13ft and up to 62 stone.

“It is known they were introduced into English lakes by the Victorians for sport. They are very long lived and it is entirely possible they were introduced by Victorians to the loch - which would explain why the main sightings of Nessie really started in the 1930s - just as the animals were reaching maturity,” said Mr Feltham, who gave up his girlfriend and home in Dorset to hunt for Nessie.

“There was a viable breeding population but I think the numbers have declined to the extent that there are now just one or two left. They also eat other catfish and may have eaten breeding females over time. Nessie is destined to be no more, I’m afraid.

“I’ve had to change my mind slowly over time, but what a lot of people have reported seeing would fit in with the description of the catfish with its long curved back.

There was a viable breeding population but I think the numbers have declined to the extent that there are now just one or two left.
Steve Feltham

“Its natural decline in numbers over time would also explain the tail off in sightings in recent years. I have to be honest. I just don’t think that Nessie is a prehistoric monster. However the monster mystery will last forever and will continue to attract people here - monster or not. I certainly don’t regret the last 24 years.”

The legend of the Loch Ness Monster has been around since the sixth century, when Irish monk Saint Columba witnessed locals burying a man who had been attacked by a ‘water beast.’

Sightings were scarce until the first modern newspaper report of a monster in the Northern Chronicle of 27 August 1930 which told of fishermen in a boat on Loch Ness being “disturbed” by a 18 feet long creature.

But it was the famous sighting in 1933, when George Spicer and his wife claimed they saw ‘a most extraordinary form of animal’ which was 4ft high and 25ft long crossing the road near the loch, that started Nessie mania.