WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Is it a real-life sea monster or a real good marketing scheme?

It's a question being asked after South Florida's version of the Loch Ness Monster allegedly showed up in a lake near West Palm Beach.

In August, home video captured mysterious movement underneath the surface of the Lake Worth Lagoon. Now the men behind the video and the city are cashing in on the "Muck Monster."

Gregory Reynolds and Dan Serrano work for Lagoon Keepers, a nonprofit organization that cleans up Palm Beach County's waterways.

In late August they went to retrieve a log from the Lake Worth Lagoon but found something much more alive.

"It was an unusual wake," Serrano told Local 10's Jonathan Vigliotti.

"We saw it move along, creating some deep ripples, then it just dipped deeper underwater," Reynolds said.

Reynolds claimed the wake was created by some kind of sea monster.

"It's not a shark or manatee. Sharks would have their fins above the water. This is something much different," he said.

Reynolds uploaded the video to his company's Web site. In just a few days, he said, it went viral. The Muck Monster, as this mysterious creature is being called, became instant folklore.

Fans have created YouTube videos depicting the creature. David Letterman used the Muck Monster as late-night fodder for his Top 10 list.

Reynolds said that overnight the Lagoon Keepers Web site went from receiving four to 2,000 hits a day. Reynolds is trying to turn this publicity into more funding for his company by selling T-shirts that read "I am not the Muck Monster."

The Lagoon Keepers aren't the only ones trying to rake in money from the Muck Monster. City officials said ever since the video hit the Internet, their tourism Web site has received over 4 million views.

"I think it's prehistoric, personally, and a lot of people agree with me," said city commissioner William Moss. Moss is leading a campaign to entice tourists to the area.

In a commission meeting Monday morning, Moss secured enough support to install a telescope near the Intracoastal, where the monster has been spotted. He said it's just the beginning.

"We're going to have a naming contest. We'll also have a feeding station, which will have fish pellets," said Moss.

While critics say this is all child's play, Reynolds warned that when it comes to the Intracoastal, you should play at your own risk.

"This water is teeming with life," he said. "Who knows what's in there?"