FIELD FILE · LAKE-KANAS-MONSTERLAKE & SEA MONSTERREGIONAL LEGEND

Lake Kanas Monster

Also known as Kanas Lake Monster, Hanas Lake Monster, Kanas water monster

Huge red shapes said to haunt Kanas Lake in Xinjiang’s Altai Mountains – a legend most scientists now credit to giant taimen, the world’s largest salmon.

Kanas Lake is a long, crescent-shaped glacial lake in the Altai Mountains at the far northern tip of Xinjiang, close to the borders with Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Formed by glaciers some 200,000 years ago and up to about 188 m deep, it is famous for water that changes colour with the seasons, weather and light, and for the larch and pine taiga that surrounds it. Tuvan and Kazakh communities live in the valley, and the area is now one of China’s top-rated scenic destinations.

Stories of something in the lake are old. One legend links the lake to Genghis Khan, whose tomb is said in some tellings to lie beneath its waters under the guard of a lake spirit. Herders long told of horses and cattle dragged into the water while drinking, and a widely repeated tale from the 1970s describes a herdsman who dozed off by the shore and woke to find ten of his horses gone, with only hoofprints and reddish water left behind.

The modern monster dates from 1 August 1980, when a forest ranger reported a red object more than 15 m long floating in the middle of the lake – an account published in the national Guangming Daily. In 1985 a Xinjiang University team reported huge, blood-red fish, estimated by some at over 10 m long, and said their net was found torn and dragged far upstream. A researcher on the team proposed that the creatures were outsized Hucho taimen, the Siberian taimen.

As tourism boomed in the 2000s, so did sightings and videos, many filmed from the mountaintop viewing platform above the lake. Chinese television documentaries have used sonar and underwater cameras to look for the beasts, filming taimen of around 3 m – large, but far short of the giants of legend. Online, some commentators suspect the scenic area of quietly encouraging sightings, while park staff tend to tell visitors that what they saw was a big fish.

Type

Lake & sea monster

Status

Regional legend

First reported

1980

Best-known location

Kanas Lake, Altay Prefecture, Xinjiang

Also called

Kanas Lake Monster, Hanas Lake Monster, Kanas water monster

Reported in

China

What witnesses describe

Usually described as enormous reddish or dark fish-like shapes, sometimes in groups, moving just below the surface and throwing up large wakes. Early reports gave lengths of 10–15 m; most recent videos show elongated shadows or V-shaped ripples.

Where and when it’s seen

The deep, cold water of Kanas Lake and the Kanas River, especially the stretches visible from the high viewpoint above the lake. Sightings are reported mainly in summer and early autumn, the tourist season, when the lake is ice-free.

Notable sightings

1. 1970sThe herdsman’s missing horses Kanas Lake, Altay

   According to a popular local story, a herdsman napped by the lake and woke to find ten horses gone, with hoofprints leading to reddish water. Searches found nothing, and the tale fed fears of a horse-eating lake monster.

2. August 1, 1980The forest ranger’s red object Kanas Lake, Altay

   A forest ranger reported a red object more than 15 m long floating in mid-lake that vanished before others arrived. The report in Guangming Daily is regarded as the first official sighting.

3. 1985Xinjiang University scientists see giant fish Kanas Lake, Altay

   A research team reported huge red fish, estimated at 10 m or more, and said a net several hundred metres long disappeared and was later found torn upstream. The team’s leading suggestion was giant taimen.

4. 2004A meteorologist’s sighting Kanas Lake, Altay

   Fang Wei, an employee of the Xinjiang meteorological service, reported bright spots moving on the lake; her husband later said they had seen four creatures of five to seven metres.

5. 2007Television sonar search Kanas Lake, Altay

   A CCTV science documentary used sonar and underwater cameras and filmed a taimen about three metres long – a big fish, but far smaller than the creatures in early reports.

6. 2012Three “monsters” filmed from the viewpoint Kanas Lake, Altay

   A scenic-area worker filmed three large moving shapes from a mountaintop platform. A CCTV programme that analysed the footage concluded it most likely showed a school of large fish hunting.

What could explain it?

• Siberian taimen (Hucho taimen), the largest member of the salmon family, live in the lake and can exceed two metres; they are predators that sometimes take birds and small mammals.
• Scientists such as fisheries researcher Ren Mulian argued in 1988 that the lake is too small and cold to support fish anywhere near 10 m long, suggesting early size estimates were exaggerated.
• Distance, wakes, wind lines and the lake’s changing colours make it easy to misjudge size from the high viewpoints where most videos are taken.
• The legends of livestock taken by the lake may reflect real losses to drowning, wolves or rustling, retold as monster stories.

Legend, culture and tourism

Kanas is promoted as a rare landscape of Siberian taiga within China, and the lake monster has become part of its appeal, with tourists scanning the water from the viewing platform and Chinese television revisiting the mystery regularly. The valley’s Tuvan villages, with their log houses and herding traditions, are another major draw.

Places to visit

Where it’s reported

China Xinjiang

Lake Kanas Monster in the news

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First published October 13, 2026 · Updated October 14, 2026