Loch Ness, one of the largest and deepest lakes in Scotland. It is in north-central Scotland in the Great Glen (Glen Mor). The lake is about 25 miles (40 km) long (southwest-northeast) and about one mile (1.6 km) wide. Loch Ness is part of the Caledonian Canal system joining the North Sea with the Atlantic Ocean. Since the early 1930's there have been periodic, but unverified, reports of a giant monster living in the lake. Some scientists believe the sightings actually may be of large sturgeon, which are present in the lake. (An often-published photograph supposedly showing the monster was revealed in 1994 to be a hoax.)