telerib | Great Underwater Panther!

"The Potawatomi of the Great Lakes region both feared and revered the Underwater Panther, the master of the underworld and a blend of the panther, deer, snake, and bird of prey."
-- from Florida PantherNet.

"In Cree and Ojibway cultures of the region, Mishipizhiw, was both feared and revered as a demi-god of the water. Sometimes taking the form of a menacing, snake-like creature with sharp teeth, horns, and "power lines" emanating from its body, Mishipizhiw was also pictured as fiercely feline (the "Great Lynx", "great underwater wildcat," "underwater panther," or "fabulous night panther"). Like other Manitous, Mishipizhiw had the power to shape-change into various animal forms."
-- from Great Canadian Rivers - the Missinaibi River page.

"Within the Algonkian cosmos, the great underwater panther, water lynx or lion Mishipizheu is usually acknowledged as the most powerful underworld being. James Howard states of Bungi-Qjibway beliefs that underwater panthers were "sometimes described as having brassy scales on their bodies and horns like those of a bison on their heads, the Nambiza reside in the deepest parts of streams and lakes. The Nambiza are the masters of all underwater creatures and also snakes." Nevertheless, the principal Menornini underworld chief is the Great White Bear with a long copper tail, while other Algonkian legends identify a great horned serpent. Some versions of the Earth-Diver/Nanabozo creation legend refer to whole communities of water lynxes.

Seventeenth century references to Mishipizheu or Missibizi connect this underworld entity with Lake Superior copper. Its power to create storms was greatly feared by mariners, particularly on the Great Lakes, amid Aboriginal travellers are regularly documented as propitiating the great underwater panther with sacrifices... A southern variation on this theme is reported by J.R. Swauton who recorded the Natchez legend "The Panther Child" where the hero is carried across a wide river by a great serpent with a white ring about its neck and "horns like a deer" which is repaid with a meal of four pups... Water lynx ownership of or control over game is suggested by the killing of Nanabozho's hunting companion who pursued a moose/caribou/deer into water. The Creek of the American South believed that horned serpents could charm game animals provides a succinct overview of the North American geographic and thematic range of beliefs relating to horned serpents."
-- from "Dragon Sideplates from York: A new twist on an old tail," which makes a case for the ritual destruction of decorative copper plates on firearms being tied to the underwater panther. See original article for citations.

"In many American-Indian religions, an underwater panther is a mythic creature from the underworld that prowls earthly waters. Some traditions viewed these aquatic panthers and other big water cats as helpful, protective creatures. But more often they were seen as malevolent spirits, demon beasts that brought death and misfortune."
-- from Far Shores Ancient Mysteries: New interpretations of an ancient American earth mound

While I will link to the crackpot site, I will not bother to quote the somewhat lengthy and vaguely rambling text that asserts that the Native Americans co-existed with dinosaurs, and that the Water Panther is a stegosaurus.