Loch Ness cruise boat operator and veteran Nessie hunter George Edwards yesterday published his photograph, which drew praise from a fellow monster expert, who described it as the best evidence that Nessie exists.
However, a rival monster hunter raised doubts about the shape in Mr Edwards’s photograph being Nessie, accusing him of faking a previous picture of the monster 26 years ago.
Mr Edwards, who runs Drumnadrochit-based Loch Ness Cruises, said he had taken the new photograph from his boat near Urquhart Castle at 9am on 2 November last year.
He explained it had not been published before, because he had sent it for analysis to check the object was not inanimate.
Steve Feltham, who has been searching for Nessie for 21 years from Dores, further up the loch, said: “It is the best photograph I think I have ever seen.
“I think the images are fantastic — that’s the animal I have been looking for all this time.
