Italy's Lake Monster is the first episode of the first season of Jeremy Wade's Dark Waters.
Episode Description[]
The Lake Garda Monster has been described as a huge, humped bear - half snake, half dinosaur. Jeremy travels to northern Italy to investigate, and discovers that these picturesque waters could be hiding several enormous beasts.
Episode Summary[]
Jeremy Wade heard stories of a monster from Italy's Lake Garda. He picked up several recent eyewitness accounts that described a beast between 7 and 10 feet long. The witnesses claimed that it was long and snake like, and one even believed that it produced bubbles before surfacing. Jeremy then visited a library that dated back to medieval times that told accounts of frightened monks seeing monsters in caves deep below an island in the lake.
Jeremy travels to these caves, the alleged lair of the monster, and used an ROV to explore them. However, the cave eventually became too narrow, and his operation was forced to halt. Jeremy was able to locate a potential suspect, the Adriatic Sturgeon. After asking some of the locals, however, he learned that it was endangered and possibly extinct.
On the trail for more suspects, he encountered a living individual in an aquarium, and then traced it to a farm, where the owner stated that he had actually been releasing these fish for about twenty years. After catching one of these farm raised fish, he noted that due to their swim bladders, they would produce bubbles as they moved up the water column. They can also grow to around seven feet in length. Jeremy went to help release some of these, at which point he learned that young Adriatic Sturgeon were actually prey for a fish known as the "Siluro" or Wels Catfish.
Wels are native to northern and eastern Europe, so Jeremy traveled to another lake where fishermen blame Wels for damage done to their nets. Jeremy hears that some Wels were introduced to this region, and that they have taken it over. He sees a small Wels in a net first hand, even though it manages to escape before they can bring it onto the boat. Jeremy then tries to fish near a dam on the river Po, where he hooks what feels like a large Wels in the dead of night. After bringing it in, it proves to be seven feet two inches in length, making it comparable in size to the one he caught in the episode European Maneater.
Jeremy believes the Wels could explain some of the more recent sightings, since its appearance also fits that of the monster. However, the medieval reports hail from a time long before Wels were introduced to Italy, so these are more likely to be sightings of Adriatic Sturgeon.
Animals Featured[]
- Wels Catfish
- Adriatic Sturgeon
Locations Featured[]
- TBA
Trivia[]
- This is the first episode of Dark Waters.
- It is very similar to River Monsters as Jeremy Wade investigates a fish sighting.
- The third episode of the Wels Catfish on screen in one of Jeremy's shows. This is also the last.