Something strange washed ashore on the beach in Villaricos in Spain. It had a body of more than four meters in length, looked pretty much like nothing on Earth, and caused more than a little consternation.
The Association in Defence of Marine Fauna (Promar) in Villaricos in Almería, southern Spain now has the task of trying to identify the creature.
Some thought the creature looked like a kind of "Loch Ness Monster", others spoke of a "mutant fish", and many humorous comments were made about the strange-looking corpse.
Experts have put forward several different theories, including the possibility that it is a type of shark, but biologists at Promar say further study is required.
Civil Protection Coordinator, María Sánchez, told local media, "We have no idea what it can be, but it smelled bad, because it was so badly decomposed.
"Promar experts are trying to find out what it could be," she added.
Because of the bad condition of the remains, the body had to be buried for health reasons.
This means that Promar now only has access to images of the creature for the biologists to work with. However, these images have also been distributed to other organizations in the hope of achieving some form of identification.
digitaljournal.com