On April 25, 1977 the Japanese fishing vessel Zuiyo Maru pulled the carcass shown above out of the sea.

The fishermen could not identify the creature, but believed it might have been a sea serpent. They took pictures of the carcass and then threw it back into the sea, fearing that the rotting flesh would contaminate their catch. The pictures appeared in newspapers throughout the world.

Chemical analysis of samples of the carcass later determined that the creature was probably a species of shark.