The Zuiyo-maru carcass is a creature initially claimed to be a prehistoric plesiosaur that was caught by the Japanese fishing trawler Zuiyō Maru (瑞洋丸?) off the coast of New Zealand in 1977. Although several scientists insisted it was "not a fish, whale, or any other mammal", analysis later indicated it was most likely the carcass of a basking shark by comparing the number of sets of amino acids in the muscle tissue.
Decomposing basking shark carcasses lose most of the lower head area and the dorsal and caudal fins first, making them resemble a plesiosaur.
Read more about Zuiyo-maru Carcass: Discovery, Description, In Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the word carcass:
“I am sure my bones would not rest in an English grave, or my clay mix with the earth of that country. I believe the thought would drive me mad on my death-bed could I suppose that any of my friends would be base enough to convey my carcass back to her soil. I would not even feed her worms if I could help it.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)