Editing Sea serpent (section)

==Natural explanations==
R.L. France proposed in a 2016 paper for the ''[[International Journal of Maritime History]]'' that a significant number of sea serpent sightings, including nineteenth century accounts of serpents attacking whales, were due to the misidentification of whales entangled in fishing gear and maritime debris.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=France |first1=R.L.|date=2016 |title=Reinterpreting nineteenth-century accounts of whales battling ‘sea serpents’ as an illation of early entanglement in pre-plastic fishing gear or maritime debris|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0843871416667434?journalCode=ijha|journal=International Journal of Maritime History|volume=28|issue=4|pages=686-714|doi=10.1177/0843871416667434|access-date= December 1, 2024}}</ref>

In a 2023 article for [[Fate (magazine)|''Fate'']], Karl Brandt suggested well-known sea serpent sightings could be explained by harpooned [[sperm whale|sperm whales]] held fast to their hunters’ overturned rowboats. The boats would accumulate debris at the surface which could stretch for hundreds of yards while appearing to be propelled through the water by unknown means. The theory was supported by the majority of sightings in Norwegian [[fjord|fjords]] occurring ‘during the summer months of June to August when the whales are most plentiful.’<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.fatemag.com/post/sea-serpents-ghosts-of-whaling-s-past|title=Sea Serpents: Ghosts of Whaling's Past|last=Brandt|first=Karl|date= August 17, 2023|website=Fate|access-date= December 1, 2024}}</ref>