In what may be a game changer in the Scottish independence referendum this September, the elusive Loch Ness Monster has reportedly been spotted on Apple Maps.

Images on the satellite mapping service shows what appears to be a 100-ft-long floating creature, using its flippers to wade through the Loch in the Scottish Highlands with its neck dipped down into the water.

26-year-old Andrew Dixon, one of two people who separately spotted the Nessie-like figure, told the Daily Mail: “It was a total fluke that I found it. I was looking at satellite images of my town and then just thought I’d have a look at Loch Ness.”

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The charity worker for the Great North Air Ambulance from Darlington, County Durham, added: “The first thing that came into my head when I saw it was, “That’s the Loch Ness Monster”. It was the shape of it I thought it had to be something more than a shadow.”

Shape Created with Sketch. The hunt for the Loch Ness Monster Show all 8 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. The hunt for the Loch Ness Monster 1/8 Searching for Nessie This famous photograph of the Loch Ness monster, allegedly taken on 19 April 1934 by Colonel Robert Wilson, was exposed as a hoax only in 1994 KEYSTONE/GETTY 2/8 Searching for Nessie Members of the Mirich Film Company scanning Loch Ness for the monster in 1969. The company were shooting 'The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes' beside the loch at the time Getty Images 3/8 Searching for Nessie The headquarters of the Loch Ness Monster Investigation Team at the side of Loch Ness in 1969 Getty Images 4/8 Searching for Nessie One of the members of the Loch Ness Monster Investigation Team keeping a watch on the surface of Loch Ness in 1969 Getty Images 5/8 Searching for Nessie A submarine is lowered into Loch Ness to begin its search for the monster in 1969 Getty Images 6/8 Searching for Nessie A group of monks from the Fort Augustus Abbey on Loch Ness in 1935. References to a monster in Loch Ness date back to St Columba's biography, 565 AD, where Adamnan describes St Columba preventing a creature in the Loch eating a man. More than 1,000 people claim to have seen 'Nessie' and the area is a popular tourist attraction Getty Images 7/8 Searching for Nessie An image from Apple Maps in April 2014, which has been interpreted as the Loch Ness monster in the Scottish Highlands Apple Maps 8/8 Searching for Nessie A model of the Loch Ness monster stands outside a visitor centre in Scotland Getty Images 1/8 Searching for Nessie This famous photograph of the Loch Ness monster, allegedly taken on 19 April 1934 by Colonel Robert Wilson, was exposed as a hoax only in 1994 KEYSTONE/GETTY 2/8 Searching for Nessie Members of the Mirich Film Company scanning Loch Ness for the monster in 1969. The company were shooting 'The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes' beside the loch at the time Getty Images 3/8 Searching for Nessie The headquarters of the Loch Ness Monster Investigation Team at the side of Loch Ness in 1969 Getty Images 4/8 Searching for Nessie One of the members of the Loch Ness Monster Investigation Team keeping a watch on the surface of Loch Ness in 1969 Getty Images 5/8 Searching for Nessie A submarine is lowered into Loch Ness to begin its search for the monster in 1969 Getty Images 6/8 Searching for Nessie A group of monks from the Fort Augustus Abbey on Loch Ness in 1935. References to a monster in Loch Ness date back to St Columba's biography, 565 AD, where Adamnan describes St Columba preventing a creature in the Loch eating a man. More than 1,000 people claim to have seen 'Nessie' and the area is a popular tourist attraction Getty Images 7/8 Searching for Nessie An image from Apple Maps in April 2014, which has been interpreted as the Loch Ness monster in the Scottish Highlands Apple Maps 8/8 Searching for Nessie A model of the Loch Ness monster stands outside a visitor centre in Scotland Getty Images

Mr Dixon alerted the President of the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club to the picture six months ago, who was pleased that the beast had been "seen" for the first time in 18 months.

Mr Campbell, who keeps a register of sightings, told the newspaper: "We’ve been looking at it for a long time trying to work out exactly what it is.

"It looks like a boat wake, but the boat is missing. You can see some boats moored at the shore, but there isn’t one here. We’ve shown it to boat experts and they don’t know what it is.

"Whatever this is, it is under the water and heading south, so unless there have been secret submarine trials going on in the loch, the size of the object would make it likely to be Nessie."

He also dismissed other "logical" explanations, including that the image merely shows a floating log or a seal causing ripples.