Saturday, June 29, 2013

New Zealand Sea Monster

 Sea Monster in New Zealand : Did a sea monster wash ashore in New Zealand last month?

The bizarre-looking corpse washed ashore last month, fuelling speculation that it is the remains of a prehistoric sea monster washed up ashore from the deep. The 9-metre-long corpse has basic flippers and a gaping jaw with long, sharp teeth.


A video posted to YouTube showed the 9-metre long corpse on Pukehina Beach in the Bay of Plenty. Calling it a “strange marine creature”, the narrator added: “can anyone help us identify it?”.
The video sparked a flurry of speculation that the carcass was some prehistoric ‘sea monster’.
Discovery News said the latest “monster” carcass find in New Zealand was part of a long history of discoveries of mysterious sea creatures. The bizarre, rotting corpses are often mistakenly identified as sea monsters or dinosaurs, or even just mysterious “blobsters”.


In 1896, a 2-metre tall sea creature corpse washed ashore in St Augustine, Florida. Scientists eventually determined it was a new type of giant octopus.


In 2003, the bizarre 12-metre, 13-tonne “Chilean blob” shocked the world when it washed ashore on Los Muermos beach, BBC News reports. Puzzled marine biologists speculated the blob could be a type of giant squid, but DNA tests on the blubbery mass eventually determined it was the remains of a sperm whale.


Marine mammal expert Anton Van Heldon examined the latest ‘monster’ carcass in New Zealand and believes it is a killer whale, based on the fin structure. Killer whales, or orcas, are sometimes spotted in the Bay of Plenty.