Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

, the Lusca is a name given to a

sea monster Sea monsters are beings from folklore believed to dwell in the sea and often imagined to be of immense size. Marine monsters can take many forms, including sea dragons, sea serpents, or tentacled beasts. They can be slimy and scaly and are ofte ...

said to exist in the region of the

blue hole A blue hole is a large marine cavern or sinkhole, which is open to the surface and has developed in a bank or island composed of a carbonate bedrock ( limestone or coral reef). Their existence was discovered in the late 20th century by fishe ...

s nearby

Andros Andros ( el, Άνδρος, ) is the northernmost island of the Greek Cyclades archipelago, about southeast of Euboea, and about north of Tinos. It is nearly long, and its greatest breadth is . It is for the most part mountainous, with many fr ...

, an island in the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

Description

It is described as a giant octopus, a giant

cuttlefish Cuttlefish or cuttles are marine molluscs of the order Sepiida. They belong to the class Cephalopoda which also includes squid, octopuses, and nautiluses. Cuttlefish have a unique internal shell, the cuttlebone, which is used for control of ...

, or a half dragon, half octopus. The lusca is said to grow over long, but no cases have been proven of

octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...

species growing up to even half these lengths.

In popular culture

The reports of a lusca monster attacking swimmers and divers was investigated by Jeremy Wade, the host of the television series ''

River Monsters ''River Monsters'' is a British and United States, American wildlife Documentary film, documentary Television show, television programme produced for Animal Planet by Icon Films of Bristol, United Kingdom. It is hosted by extreme Angling, ang ...

'', in the episode "Terror in Paradise" (season eight, episode four). After investigating

reef shark This article lists several species of reef-associated sharks which are known by the common name reef sharks. In the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Oceans: * Blacktip reef shark * Grey reef shark * Whitetip reef shark In the Atlantic Ocean, Atl ...

tiger shark The tiger shark (''Galeocerdo cuvier'') is a species of requiem shark and the last extant member of the family Galeocerdonidae. It is a large macropredator, capable of attaining a length over . Populations are found in many tropical and tempera ...

s, and the

giant Pacific octopus The giant Pacific octopus (''Enteroctopus dofleini''), also known as the North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the genus ''Enteroctopus''. Its spatial distribution includes the coastal North Pacific, along Mexico ...

, Wade settles on a large octopus being the most likely culprit for being the lusca monster. A Caribbean Film Festival,

Lusca Fantastic Film Fest The Lusca Fantastic Film Fest (formerly Puerto Rico Horror Film Fest) is an annual film festival held in Puerto Rico. It is the first and only international fantastic film festival in the Caribbean devoted to sci-fi, thriller, fantasy, dark hum ...

, was named after this sea monster; the festival is an annual event held in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

. It is the first and only international fantastic film festival in the Caribbean.
Lusca Film Fest Official Website The survival video game ''

Stranded Deep ''Stranded Deep'' is a survival game, survival video game developed and published by Australian studio Beam Team Games for Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Linux. Plot ''Stranded Deep'' takes place in the ...

'' features an enemy giant squid named Lusca the Great. In the

HGTV HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. As of February 2015, appr ...

series ''

Renovation Island ''Island of Bryan'' is an HGTV Canada reality television series of renovation, home life, and business activities, premiering in Spring 2019. The show is similar to ''House of Bryan'' and ''Bryan Inc.'', two previous shows starring builder Bry ...

''—which revolves around Bryan and Sarah Baeumler's efforts to renovate a resort in South Andros—the main restaurant at the resort is named Lusca in honor of the sea creature. In the Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman Lucia had the head of a shark and the bottom half of a octopus and was so large it was able to get a submarine in its mouth.

References

{{reflist Caribbean legendary creatures Mythological cephalopods Sea monsters

Description

In popular culture

See also

References