Curiosity
New Zealand Sea monster: Mysterious 30 FOOT Rotting Carcas is an Orca
New Zealand Sea Monster Identified as An Orca Carcass
The fantastic discovery of a possible “sea monster” that washed up on the shores of New Zealand’s Pukehina Beach has been identified as being an “Orca”. Originally, Elizabeth Ann, who has been identified as a “YouTube user”, filmed the strange looking carcass which had washed up on the beach after what were described as “violent” storms.
The Daily Mail called the decaying mass a “mysterious 30 foot long rotting sea monster with huge teeth,” the New York Daily News described a “monster from the deep” and Express.co.uk asked: “Is this a sea monster from the darkest depths of the ocean?”
Other outlets publishing the tale were The Sun, Science World Report, TopNews Arab Emirates, International Business Times, and Huffington Post.
As per Ann, the creature had no eyes, and with its sharp teeth on display certainly gave the appearance of being something hitherto unseen.
She uploaded the video and asks other users to identify it. That’s when the video went viral and drew speculation from some that it was perhaps the seed of the “Loch Ness” monster, a “ginormous” eel, and possibly a sea monster.
“This strange marine creature washed up dead on Pukehina Beach in the Bay of Plenty last week after some violent storms,” YouTube user Elizabeth Ann wrote alongside her original video on April 28. “Can anyone identify what it is? It is has a huge head and teeth with rudimentary flippers. It seems about 9M in length but the lower part of the body is probably mainly entrails from an attack.”
However, mammal expert Anton van Helden from Auckland University was able to perform a quick identification based on the fin: it’s an orca or killer whale. Killer whale carcasses have been known to wash up on shores in such a state of decomposition as to give amateurs curious impressions as to their classification. Still, the orca made for a very nice picture of what would otherwise have been an epic discovery.
As Discovery notes, this isn’t the first bizarre mass of dead meat to wash up on shore. Marine “blobsters” — large carcasses so badly decomposed as to evade definitive identification — puzzled researchers for years until an innovative team analyzed tissue samples with electron microscopes. Interestingly enough, they turned out to be various species of whales.
Source material:
New Zealand Sea Monster: Beach Animal Carcass Identified! [VIDEO]
http://www.isciencetimes.com/articles/5102/20130507/new-zealand-sea-monster-animal-carcass-orca.htm
New Zealand Sea ‘Monster’: Expert Sheds Light On Mystery Carcass That Washed Up On Beach (VIDEO)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/07/new-zealand-sea-monster-carcass-video_n_3231082.html?ir=Green
‘Monster’ Carcass Washes Ashore in New Zealand
http://news.discovery.com/adventure/monster-carcass-washes-ashore-in-new-zealand-130506.htm
NZ ‘sea monster’ sparks global media frenzy
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10882631
