CANARY ISLANDS – A perfect rectangle of criss-crossing lines has been found on the ocean floor 620 miles off the coast of West Africa. Is this the lost city of Atlantis?

Bernie Bamford from Chester, UK found the figure while using Google Ocean to explore the sea. Its existence is even more perplexing as the grid is about 3.5 miles down.

Some believe it is the city of Atlantis, a great island civilization that Plato believed sank around 9,700 BC. Dr Charles Orser, curator of historical archaeology at New York State University and an authority on Atlantis, said, “The site is one of the most prominent places for the proposed location of Atlantis. Even if it turns out to be geographical, it definitely deserves a closer look.”

But Google is doubting this theory. A spokesperson stated, “It’s true that many amazing discoveries have been made in Google Earth. In this case, however, the image is an artifact of the data collection process, not the city of Atlantis. Boats use sonar to take measurements of the seafloor and the lines shown reflect the path of the boat as it gathers the data.”

NEAR GUAM – After Google developers introduced the new branch of Google Earth, users discovered a never before seen sea monster lurking in the images!

Released this week, the Google Ocean extension invites users to explore the oceans of our planet, with features like videos of top marine experts, travel tips and virtual tours. The feature also allows users to “dive” underwater and discover the depths of the ocean floor.

Late last night, Barney Stiles of Billings, Montana was using the program to explore the Mariana Trench when he caught sight of the creature. He quickly captured the image seen above and posted it to Google Earth’s Community message boards. “I couldn’t believe my eyes!”, he told Weekly World News in an exclusive interview. “It was a real-life sea monster!’

Google representatives stated, “We have triple-checked Mr. Stiles’ image and are convinced it is not a forgery. We are baffled but happy to announce that our technology has discovered a new species.”

Hesitant to use the word “monster”, Google is working with ocean expert Sylvia Earle on a plan to find and identify the creature. Earle explained, “I believe it may be a prehistoric eel species, a living fossil if you will, dating back to pre-historic times. Its size is truly remarkable!”

Cryptid experts believe this creature may be responsible for the famous Mariana Trench 2003 survey, when a deep-sea robotic probe disappeared without a trace. The only item recovered was the lines connecting the probe to the ship, which appeared to be viciously chewed through.  Google has not yet announced if they will be taking extra precautions for their exploration.