sea serpent

plural sea serpents

1. A type of sea monster resembling a snake or dragon.

   Here let me say - and I wish it to be distinctly understood - that I do not deny the possibility of the existence of a great sea serpent, or other great creatures at present unknown to science[.]

   1883, Henry Lee, Sea Monsters Unmasked, London: Richard Clowes and Sons, page 75

   1 more example

   This time they got into print, all right. But the much-handled stories, written up with that blend of cautiously defensive frivolity which the press habitually employed to cover themselves in matters regarding sea-serpents, elementals, thought transference, and other irregular phenomena, prevented anyone from realizing that these accomplished plants at all resembled the quiet, respectable weed beside our rubbish heap.

   1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 39

   Synonyms: sea adder