EXPERTS are baffled after the remains of a long, bizarre sea creature were discovered washed ashore on a Spanish beach.
THE remains of a mysterious, bizarre “sea creature” found on a Spanish beach has left experts baffled.
The four-metre-long creature, with what appear to be horns, was found decomposing on Luis Siret Beach in Villaricos, Spain leaving locals wondering if they had caught a glimpse of a mythical sea monster from the deep, Grind TV reports.
“A lady found one and we helped her retrieve the rest,” Maria Sanches of Civil Protection in Cuevas said. “We have no idea what it was. It really stank.”
Experts and residents are struggling to determine what the remains are, with guesses ranging from everything from a relative of the Loch Ness Monster, a dinosaur or sea monster, or an oarfish.
“It’s hard to know what we are dealing with,” PROMAR Sea Life Defence Program spokesman Paco Toledano told Ideal Ameria.
“It’s very decomposed and we cannot identify what it is.”
Mr Toledano said they have sent information about the remains to more other experts, in hopes that they can identify the animal.
sea monster found on Spanish beach
It’s not the first mystery remains to lead to speculation of a sea monster. In May, stunned beachgoers on New Zealand’s Pukehina Beach stumbled over the carcass of a mysterious marine animal.
The latest mysterious find is 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”.
Deep sea divers captured images of the elusive Pyrostremma spinosum in open water off the coast of Tasmania this year. The incredible deep-sea glow worm dubbed ‘Unicorn of the Sea’ can grow up to 30 metres long. Click here to see video of the Unicorn of the Sea
Giant octupus
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.
Montauk Monster
The Montauk Monster was an animal carcass thought to be a raccoon that washed ashore on a beach near the business district of Montauk, New York in July 2008. The identity of the creature has been the subject of controversy and speculation. It is not known what happened to the carcass.
Tas Giant Squid
A giant squid washed up onto the beach near Strachan on Tasmania’s west coast in July 2007. Giant squid grow up to 8 metres long.
In September 2009, a strange hairless creature found in a South American cave had people believeing aliens had landed. Dubbed the ‘Panama Creature’, ‘Panama Monster’ and even the ‘Panama ET’ the creature was discovered and killed by a group of teenagers in the town of Cerro Azul. Click here to see video of the Panama Creature
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.
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.