A woman captured on camera what she claimed was a 50-foot-long silver monster disturbing the water surface of a small lake in north-western China.

The woman – named Ms Li in local media in Xinjiang Region – claimed she encountered the alleged creature while visiting Lake Tianchi on 31st August.

Li – from Shanghai, China’s largest city – said she was strolling alongside the lake at around 4:00pm when she suddenly heard what seemed like the sound of fish splashing in the water.

She looked into the distance and saw a giant creature in the lake, approximately 600 feet away from her.

She said: “It felt like it could be about 15 metres [50 feet] long.”

Phone footage filmed by Li shows the still surface of the lake being disturbed by something swimming underneath and causing waves and ripples.

The scene lasted for about 10 seconds, Li said, and the lake was calm as before.

Li said: “At first, I thought it might be several fish, but upon closer inspection, it was just one long, silver-coloured creature.”

She claimed that the monstrous creature was moving in a regular pattern, and it was swimming quite fast.

Staff at the scenic area later responded saying that due to the unclear quality of the video and the lack of a clear description, they could not determine what exactly it was.

The staff added, however, that similar situations have been reported by other tourists in the past, but were also unable to identify the species due to the distance.

They added: “Imagination is quite vivid. We hope there really is an aquatic creature that can satisfy everyone’s curiosity, but whether it exists or not is hard to say.”

The staff also noted that known aquatic creatures in Tianchi include rainbow trout, among others.

However, none of them exceed three feet long.