Alten, the New York Times' best-selling author of the "Meg" series about a dinosaur era giant shark appearing in the modern world, used the Nessie legend as the basis of his 2005 novel "The Loch".

"Before I wrote 'The Loch,' I spent two years researching the book, speaking with experts and locals, to gain insight on the latest findings," Mr Alten explained.

"Even though it's fiction, 'The Loch' separates science from myth and details how a giant eel came to be trapped in Loch Ness. My primary researcher, William McDonald, actually documented eel slide tracks frozen in the mud after a sighting in 2004.

"In addition, in April of 2005, we heard a report of two American college students locating a four inch tooth in a half-eaten deer carcass on the shoreline of Loch Ness."

The "tooth" was dismissed by experts as a broken antler and sceptics were suspicious of how closely the college students' story, which also appeared on its own website www.lochnesstooth.com, matched some of the details of Mr Alten's book so close to its publication.

Following the tooth story, Mr Alten's publisher, Tsunami Books, offered a $10,000 bounty to UK fishermen to find an eel whose teeth matched the one reported by the students.

The giant eel skull shows how US author Steve Alten believes Nessie may look.

Steve Newton of Plymouth was the winner, landing an 83lb specimen. However, it was Tony Allen of Clearwater, Florida, who produced an eel whose barbed teeth matched the student's photos. Tsunami Books then commissioned a museum artist to create a replica eel skull that would precisely match the four-inch tooth. The result: a six and a half foot monstrous head, belonging to a creature that would reach 40 to 50 feet in length.

Mr Alten believes his theories were further vindicated last month when Gordon Holmes, a 55-year-old lab technician from Yorkshire, captured video footage of what he described as "this jet black thing, about 45 feet long."

"We had experts analyze the photos, and the description matched this latest video footage perfectly," Mr Alten said.

"It pays to do the research. Readers appreciate the extra mile. The e-mails have been coming in non-stop telling me I got it right."

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