The Zuiyo-Maru, a Japanese fishing boat, trawled up a gigantic animal carcass off the coast of Christchurch, New Zealand, in April 1977. The crew brought the remains on deck and it examined it. It weighed about four thousand pounds, and Michihiko Yano, assistant preduction manager of the ship, determined that it was 33 feet long. Yano also took photographs of the carcass.
The creature appeared to have a long neck and snakelike head. None of the crew of the Zuiyo-Maru could identify it, though some that it could be a rotting whale, despite its "unwhale-like appearance."
The stinking carcass was thrown overboard as to not spoil their catch of fish, though Yano took samples of a "horny fiber" from the creature's fins. The remains gained a lot of media attention in Japan, focusing on the plesiosaur-like appearance. But it was excitement over nothing.
The "horny fiber" recovered by Yano was tested on, and the Zuiyo-Maru carcass was proven to be nothing more than a very decomposed basking shark.
This post is excerpted from my future book Global Globsters: An Examination of "Sea Monster" Carcasses from Around the World.
The creature appeared to have a long neck and snakelike head. None of the crew of the Zuiyo-Maru could identify it, though some that it could be a rotting whale, despite its "unwhale-like appearance."
The stinking carcass was thrown overboard as to not spoil their catch of fish, though Yano took samples of a "horny fiber" from the creature's fins. The remains gained a lot of media attention in Japan, focusing on the plesiosaur-like appearance. But it was excitement over nothing.
The "horny fiber" recovered by Yano was tested on, and the Zuiyo-Maru carcass was proven to be nothing more than a very decomposed basking shark.
This post is excerpted from my future book Global Globsters: An Examination of "Sea Monster" Carcasses from Around the World.
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