9. Zuiyo-maru Plesiosaur One of the most prominent cases of a misidentified "globster" reported as a sea monster took place in April 1977, on board a Japanese fishing boat named the Zuiyo-maru. About 30 miles off the coast of Christchurch, New Zealand, the trawler's nets snared a huge animal carcass of an indeterminate sort. The crew hauled the monstrous body out of the ocean and up over the deck, and at first they thought it was a rotten whale. But after a closer look, they weren't so sure. The creature was 33 feet long and weighed about 4000 pounds. It had a snake-like head at the end of a long, slender neck, making it seem rather unlike a whale. Some crew members commented that it looked like a giant turtle without a shell, and it also had a strong resemblance to a plesiosaur. Although they recognized that this was possibly a scientific discovery of historical proportions, the crew of the Zuiyo-maru agreed that they had to throw the carcass back into the sea. If they kept the decayed creature on board it could contaminate the catch of fish that was more valuable to them than any scientific find. Besides, the awful stench coming off the carcass was unbearable. But as the crew attempted to wrangle the beast back into the water, it unexpectedly fell through the supporting ropes and crashed to the deck. This delay allowed Michihiko Yano, the ship's assistant production manager, the opportunity to take some quick measurements of the creature and shoot several photographs (one of which is shown on this page). Yano also had the forethought to excise samples of "horny fiber" from one of the fins of the carcass, to help in later identifying the creature. Then the stinking monster was thrown overboard, for good. The fish company for which the Zuiyo-maru worked was very excited about the sea monster story and the striking photos, and they publicized the event with great fanfare. The resultant hoopla created a national craze over sea monsters throughout Japan, encompassing wind-up toy replicas and a postage stamp depicting a plesiosaur, which is what many scientists initially proposed the creature to be. But analysis of Yano's photos and tissue samples led to the conclusion that the creature was a decomposed basking shark. Despite this solution to the Zuiyo-maru mystery, there are those who persist in believing that the carcass was actually a plesiosaur or some other unknown animal, citing supposed inconsistencies in the creature's skeletal structure or other characteristics. These indefatigable believers can always point to the fact that the crew rashly threw the precious evidence overboard, and thus we will never know absolutely for sure what it was. Or at least, that gives us a reason to pretend not to know. Next: The Malaysian Dragon Back to Cryptozoo Entrance Paranormal message board: Share your views