Is The Many-Finned Extinct?

Before I actually begin to question the issue of the possible extinction of the Many-Finned, I should probably first give a decent diagram of what the Many-Finned is. This particular cryptid was endowed a fairly self-explanatory name by none other then the Father of Cryptozoology himself, Bernard Heuvelmans. Heuvelmans gave it its name after several reports of a Sea Serpent with a ridge of fins on its back. The typical “Sea Serpent” has several humps on its back, as popular media and other organizations would have you believe. But Heuvelmans was able to classify several other Sea Serpents other then the “Many-Humped,” the “monster” that haunted the media. The “Many-Finned” was just one of these which also included “Yellow-Belly,” “Father-of-all-Turtles,” and “Super-Otter,” to name a few.

The first time that an individual had actually attempted a mass classification project was in Heuvelmans’ In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents. Previous to this compilation, people had attempted to say that there was one and only one type of Sea Serpent in existence. Never before had any body ever put any stock in the reports of giant sea centipedes. With the help of Antoon Cornelis Oudemans’ unpublished archives, Heuvelmans’ superior intellect came to the conclusion that there was a strange creature living in the waters of many bays, especially of those within the possession of Vietnam.

The Vietnamese Many-Finned is called Con Rit by the locals. This term means “millipede” in Vietnamese and implies the giant wonder living within the depths of Vietnam’s waters. The first recorded sighting was in February 1846; however Bernard Heuvelmans considers the report to be that of Many-Humped rather then Many-Finned. The next report occurred on August 28, 1852 aboard the Barham. It would be another 4 years before another report would come to light. On July 8, 1856, the Princess’ crew saw a fantastic spectacle with a “ridge of fins”. The Princess’ tale is most likely the most famous of Many-Finned reports, but it was certainly not the last. There were 11 Many-Finned reports in the 19^th century alone. In the 20^th century there were 14 additional reports, with the last occurring in 1935. This is where things get slightly more confusing.

In the prime of the Many-Finned, reports randomly disappeared into thin air.  Previous to 1846 and 1852, there had been no sightings of what would eventually become known as the Many-Finned. Not even a century after, the Many-Finned allegedly goes extinct? This seems unlikely, but not impossible. There is possibly even a way to explain it.

Assuming that the Many-Finned population was small in the beginning of the 19^th century and it slowly grew towards the mid-century. Eventually, the population would slowly grow and towards the turn of the century it would grow to a maximum. Once the population began to grow, food and mating would become a competitive part of life. The population would then correct itself and go back down. At this point, excessive hunting usually finalizes the extinction, but in this case, there is nothing of the kind. Typically, the competition would diminish and the population would retain its healthy size. But the Many-Finned just disappeared without any official reason. It would require additional information in order to speculate on this subject further. I regret to say, but all of my theories on this matter are unpublished and I am reluctant to enclose any information available in my book. I would like to apologize again for the inconvenience, but I cannot reveal any theories without knowing for sure that the information would not be used in a competitors book, blog, or other means of publishing.