Message #237033

[In the Mouth of Madness]

Miscellaneous Observations

-- Japanese shark-fin processors, who are thoroughly familiar with shark carcasses, identified the animal in Yano's photographs as a shark (Abe 1978).

-- In September 1977, a positively identified basking shark carcass was stranded at Nemuro, Hokkaido, and showed a remarkable resemblance to the Zuiyo-maru carcass found only five months earlier. Describing the September stranding Omura, Mochizuki, and Kamiya (1978, p 59-60) wrote, "The jaws and gill-arches were missing, and the cranium had a somewhat turtle-like appearance...the pectoral and pelvic fins were damaged at their apexes but still remained. The results of this experiment undertaken by nature support the view that the Zuiyo-maru carcass was a giant shark that has lost its jaws and gill arches."

Summarizing their findings, Hasegawa and Uyeno (1978) state, "Based on available evidence, we are convinced that this New Zealand creature is not the "New Nessie," that much of the world was hoping for, but more than likely a carcass belonging to a large size shark."

http://paleo.cc/paluxy/plesios.htm