Atlantis Online
March 29, 2024, 12:11:10 am
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: 'Europe's oldest city' found in Cadiz
http://mathaba.net/rss/?x=566660
 
  Home Help Arcade Gallery Links Staff List Calendar Login Register  

PLESIOSAURUS SNAGGED IN JAPANESE FISHING NETS!

Pages: [1] 2 3   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: PLESIOSAURUS SNAGGED IN JAPANESE FISHING NETS!  (Read 2835 times)
0 Members and 21 Guests are viewing this topic.
In the Mouth of Madness
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 1970



« on: October 15, 2011, 03:45:57 pm »

Sea-monster or Shark?
An Analysis of a Supposed Plesiosaur Carcass Netted in 1977


© 1997-2007 Glen J. Kuban, gkpaleo@yahoo.com
Acknowledgments

Originally published in Reports of the National Center for Science Education , May/June 1997, Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 16-28.
This article is part of Kuban's Websites

Abstract

A decayed carcass accidentally netted by a Japanese trawler near New Zealand in 1977 has often been claimed by creationists and others to be a likely plesiosaur or prehistoric "sea-monster." Plesiosaurs were a group of long-necked, predatory marine reptiles with four paddle-like limbs, thought to have gone extinct with the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago. However, several lines of evidence, including lab results from tissue samples taken from the carcass before it was discarded, strongly point to the specimen being a shark, and most likely a basking shark. This should not be surprising, since basking sharks are known to decompose into "pseudoplesiosaur" forms, and their carcasses have been mistaken for "sea-monsters" many times in the past. Unfortunately, the results of scientific studies on the carcass data received less media attention than the early sensational reports, allowing widespread misconceptions about this case to continue circulating. Therefore, a thorough review of its history and the pertinent evidence is warranted.

On April 25, 1977, a fishing vessel named the Zuiyo-maru of the Taiyo Fishery Company Ltd. was trawling for mackerel about 30 miles east of Christchurch, New Zealand, when a large animal carcass became entangled in its nets at a depth of about 300 meters (almost 1000 feet). As the massive creature, weighing about 4000 pounds, was drawn toward the ship and then hoisted above the deck, assistant production manager Michihiko Yano announced to the captain (Akira Tanaka), "It's a rotten whale!" However, as Yano got a better look at the creature, he became less sure. About 17 other crew members also saw the carcass, some of whom speculated that it might be a giant turtle with the shell peeled off. However, no one on board could say for sure what it was (Aldrich 1977; Koster 1977).

http://paleo.cc/paluxy/plesios.htm
Report Spam   Logged


Pages: [1] 2 3   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by EzPortal
Bookmark this site! | Upgrade This Forum
SMF For Free - Create your own Forum
Powered by SMF | SMF © 2016, Simple Machines
Privacy Policy