Loch Ness Monster sonar

A new sonar image of a large mysterious object beneath the surface of Loch Ness has sparked fresh speculation about the existence of Nessie the monster.

The screen shot shows a distinctly-shaped outline in deep water, close to Urquhart Castle, near Drumnadrochit, on the western shore.

The eerie pictures, captured way above the Scottish Highlands, attracted worldwide interest.

Recorded just afterwards, the latest image was picked up by sonar equipment aboard the flagship vessel of Inverness-based Jacobite Cruises.

Skipper John Askew said: "This image certainly grabbed our attention.

"The Jacobite Queen spends every day sailing up and down the loch with the sonar on and this reading is the most unusual we have seen for quite some time.

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"It's impossible to tell what we've picked up here, but along with those satellite images, you can't help feeling that reports of the Loch Ness Monster's demise may be premature."

The sonar pictures were released to a local newspaper on April 29, and some people were skeptical about the authenticity.

Nessie believer Caroline Rigby tweeted: "Driving past on Sat, will keep eyes open!"

But Michael Lickley was more suspicious, writing: "Always close to the summer season!"

Last October the man who took the picture billed as "the best ever taken of the Loch Ness monster" admitted it was a fake.

George Edwards, 61, who also operates a cruise boat on the loch, insisted the picture, published worldwide in August 2012 had been "just a bit of fun".

The original "Surgeon's Photograph" taken by Dr Robert Kenneth Wilson and published in a newspaper on April 21, 1934, supposedly showed the monster's head and neck, but was later proved to be a hoax.