Zuiyo-maru carcass

Common card · No. 265045

The Zuiyo-maru carcass (ニューネッシー, Nyū Nesshii; literally "New Nessie") was a corpse, caught by the Japanese fishing trawler Zuiyō Maru (瑞洋丸) off the coast of New Zealand in 1977. The carcass's peculiar appearance resulted in speculation that it might be the remains of a sea serpent or prehistoric plesiosaur. Although several scientists insisted it was "not a fish, whale, or any other mammal", analysis of amino acids in the corpse's muscle tissue later indicated it was most likely the carcass of a basking shark. Decomposing basking shark carcasses lose most of the lower head area and the dorsal and caudal fins first, making them resemble a plesiosaur.

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