Distant Cousin of the Elephant Seal Found Washed Up on Chinese Shores?

[Kyrisch]

Early on the morning of July 23, a fisherman from Ningbo City in east China's Zhejiang Province was shocked by the sight of a huge creature lying dead beside the seawall near his home...

 

Picture and more here: http://www.china.org.cn/english/Life/136739.htm

[LucidDreamer]

They are ignoring the obvious. Somebody could have been trying to illegally transport some creature like a crocodile and it ended up in the ocean.

[ydoaPs]

i couldn't tell anything from that pic

[atinymonkey]

It looks like a basking shark to me. They look weird when the rot, the nose is left protruding when the sides of the mouth rot off. But that's just my opinion, see what you think.

 

Fresh Basking Shark: -

 

Slightly Rotten Basking Shark:-

 

Chinese hulk:-

 

Very Decomposed Basking Shark: -

 

Last Reminants of Basking Shark: -

[why?]

does look like a shark in a way.

whatever it is , it is damn ugly.

[Kyrisch]

I can make out the bulbous nose that was the basis of the theory that it was related to the elephant seal, but the rest of the body in the photograph is too ambiguous to tell for sure what it is. It could very well be a new species, seeing as less than five percent of all the oceans have been seen, let alone officially explored.

[atinymonkey]

If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and rots away like a duck, then ninety five percent of the oceans must contain monsters

 

I'm probably wrong about what it actually is, but I'm guessing it was a common fish before it started to rot and look weird.

[Lance]

I guess they have not invented color photography in china yet.

[Kyrisch]

I'm probably wrong about what it actually is, but I'm guessing it was a common fish before it started to rot and look weird.

 

I don't know where you live, but here, common fish aren't twelve meters long... And they don't miraculously grow ten meters during the decomposing stage.

[atinymonkey]

Er, it didn't 'grow'. But hey ho, if you want it to be a monster then a monster it is.

[Kyrisch]

That's not what I meant... just forget what I said.

[Royston]

I read an article a while ago that at Loch Ness they used to coax Nessy to the surface with prawn crackers in order to take photographs.

 

I guess the skepticism made Nessy look further afield.

[Lance]

Why is it that you never see clear color photos of sea monsters?

[Royston]

Why is it that you never see clear color photos of sea monsters?

 

To keep people guessing, and create tourist hot spots (such as Loch Ness)

 

Still check this photo out, colour, clear, make of it what you will. I remember a programme I while ago that stated it was possible that plesiosaurs could still exist off the coast of Australia...funny how nobody has spotted one. Though the ocean is still hugely undiscovered.

 

http://soroushk.com/pic/2003/dec/plesiosaur.jpg