What is New Nessie?
“New Nessie” is the carcass of an unidentified giant creature caught in the net of the Japanese trawler Zuiyo-maru off New Zealand in 1977. Because it looked like a plesiosaur, it was named after Nessie of Loch Ness.
The carcass that was hauled up
The carcass was about 10 meters long, with a long neck and what looked like four flippers. Because of the strong stench of decay, the crew threw it back into the sea after making sketches and taking photos, but some fibers from a fin were brought back. When the photos appeared in newspapers, all of Japan was in an uproar over a “surviving dinosaur,” and the boom was so big that a commemorative stamp was issued.
What was New Nessie really?
Analysis of the fibers brought back and other evidence makes the basking shark the leading theory. When a basking shark decomposes, its jaw and gills fall away first, and it is known to look like a creature with a long neck and a small head.
