In April 1977, the Japanese trawler Zuiyō Maru, fishing near Christchurch, New Zealand, hauled up a 10-meter-long decomposing carcass with a distinctive 1.5-meter neck, four reddish fins, and a 2-meter tail. The strange specimen sparked widespread speculation that it might be a sea serpent or even a prehistoric plesiosaur. According to Boing Boing, the discovery captivated cryptozoologists and the press alike—until scientists identified the mystery creature as something far more mundane: a basking shark, rendered unrecognizable by decomposition.

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