In April 1977 the Japanese trawler Zuiyō Maru, fishing east of Christchurch, New Zealand, pulled up a decomposing carcass about 10 meters long. The Zuiyo-maru carcass had "a 1.5-m-long neck, four large, reddish fins, and a tail about 2.0 m long," and its appearance "resulted in speculation that it might be the remains of a sea serpent or prehistoric plesiosaur."
The captain dumped the body back into the sea "so not to risk spoiling the fish caught," but the crew kept photos, sketches, measurements, and tissue samples. The find "resulted in immense commotion and a 'plesiosaur-craze' in Japan." One professor was "convinced the remains were of a plesiosaur," and another agreed: "the photographs show the remains of a prehistoric animal." Later analysis settled it: although some scientists insisted it was "not a fish, whale, or any other mammal," amino-acid tests indicated it "was most likely the carcass of a basking shark." Decomposing basking sharks "lose most of the lower head area and the dorsal and caudal fins first, making them resemble a plesiosaur."
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