"If the sea can take away my sorrow, it is like taking away every river", many people are familiar with Zhang Yusheng's "The Sea". Each of us is more or less full of reverie about the sea. More than 70% of the earth we live on is the ocean, and although some people live by the sea, we still don't know enough about the mysterious ocean.
How many secrets are there in the ocean, and how many creatures in the ocean are unheard of? To this day, no one can assert that we have discovered all the marine life. Once, a Japanese fishing boat caught a strange and ugly sea monster that had never been seen before, so what is the origin of this sea monster? Let's follow today's article to find out.
As we all know, Japan is a maritime country. "Relying on mountains to eat mountains, relying on water to draft water", and Japan, which relies on the sea, is naturally more enthusiastic about going out to sea to fish. For the Japanese, fishing is not only a particularly important source of income for them, but the mystery of the ocean also attracts many people to do this work. So even in the 21st century, Japanese people are still happy to go out to sea to fish.
In April 1977, a fishing vessel named "Miyoyo Maru" from the Japanese Ocean Fishery was sailing on the surface of the sea to catch marine fish. The familiar sea breeze blows on the crew, making them feel physically and mentally happy. The fishing boat "Ruiyang Maru" went all the way south, and they harvested a lot in the past few days.
On April 25, they finally stopped at a location about 50 kilometres from the New Zealand city of Colastchurch. They are ready to catch here for the last time and return home. The experienced crew thought the place would be rewarding and worth the trip. But at the moment, no one expected them to be such an unexpected gain.
The crew slowly sinks the nets about 300 meters below the surface of the sea, and then they quietly wait for the fish to cast their nets and they can have another wave of "big harvest". Soon after, when the time was ripe, the crew began to pull the nets up with force.
At this time, they were surprised to find that the fishing net weighed tens of millions of pounds. The crew looked at each other, and they all saw ecstasy in their eyes. They must have caught a big guy this time! In this case, they will definitely make a lot of money when they go back.
Thinking of this, the crew pulled the nets harder and harder into the boat, and the more they pulled up, the happier everyone became, because they all felt that the nets were getting heavier and heavier. However, when the fishing net was completely pulled by the crew, and the crew saw what was in the fishing net, everyone looked at each other and was dumbfounded!
What the hell are they seeing? The crew saw a behemoth. To say that it is a behemoth, in fact, it is more appropriate to say that it is "huge decay". The crew could be sure it was a creature, but it must have been dead for a long time, its body was rotten, and it had a strong and pungent smell.
The crew has worked on the sea for many years and is extremely accustomed to the smell. However, the shape of this creature is very strange, and Rao is also extremely confused in the hearts of the experienced crew members who have gone to sea.
Could this be some kind of legendary sea monster?
Although the body had begun to decay and smell pungent, the crew still discussed the identity of the "sea monster" with great interest. Unfortunately, after half a day of discussion, no crew member could tell what kind of marine life it was. However, this also shows the abundance of marine resources. Even an experienced crew member can't assert that they know all the marine life.
Because the oceans are really big, not all fish are registered by humans. There are still many unknown sea creatures in the ocean, living in the deep sea that humans cannot set foot on.
At this moment, the captain who heard the news hurried to come. The crew placed their hopes of identifying sea monsters on experienced captains, who expected them to give them an answer. But who knew that as soon as the captain saw the body of the sea monster, he angrily ordered the crew to quickly throw the body of the sea monster back into the sea.
The crew felt that the captain's anger was inexplicable, but there was no way, who let the family be the captain of a ship? The crew, though curious, could only follow the captain's orders to throw the monster's body back into the sea.
The captain certainly understood the curiosity in the crew's heart, that curiosity was human nature, and that he had curiosity in his heart. But he was the captain, and he had to think about more practical issues. They go out to sea once, and the fish they catch are the salaries and living expenses of the crew. If the so-called sea monsters are not lost, their 200 million yen worth of goods will have a big loss.
If the behemoth they salvaged was a living creature, then if they pulled it back, there would certainly be a lot of people rushing to buy it. But now there was only a rotten and smelly corpse, and it was likely that all he had worked so hard to pull back was a piece of scrap. He couldn't take that risk.
But if he knew that something like that would happen later, then he would really rather go to sea this time without making a penny, and also pull the body of the sea monster back. Unfortunately, the captain did not have the ability to predict the future, and he now just wanted the crew to quickly throw the sea monster into the sea. He can "see what is pure".
Such a bad smelling decomposing creature carcass on the boat, he was afraid that he would infect some bad bacteria to the fish he had caught before.
After the captain gave the order, he hurried back to the cabin to rest. The crew listlessly prepared to throw the sea monster they had dragged back into the sea. At this moment, a crew member named "Michihiko Yano" stepped forward. He said, "Don't panic, let me take a picture first."
It turned out that Michihiko Yano had just brought a camera, and he thought it would be a major discovery. So even if he was scolded by the captain, he still wanted to leave some influential information. He couldn't change the captain's mind, he just hoped he could leave some video material behind. Leave these materials, and when you go back, you may be able to find an expert to answer his doubts.
Michihiko Yano, who took a picture of the sea monster, was surprised at the same time: "This sea monster is really ugly, no wonder the captain threw it away."
Its skeleton is about 10 meters long, while the length of its head and neck is about 2 meters. Its body proportions are strange. Although its neck looks long, its head looks very small. The sea monster's abdomen looks particularly large, but its internal organs are gone, and it looks quite frightening.
Its bones appear to belong to cartilage, and the whole body is wrapped in a thick layer of white fat. It also has four massive fins. The total weight of it must be about 2 tons.
In addition to taking pictures, Michihiko Yano also drew a sketch of the skeleton and left behind the only precious physical evidence, 45 sea monster fin whiskers. These fins are 23.8 cm long and 0.2 cm thick, which looks a lot like the roots of ginseng whiskers.
The fishing boat "Ruiyang Maru" returned with a full load, and the news of their fishing for sea monsters did not go away. When the news reached Japan, the Japanese people instantly boiled over. Zoologists and paleontologists are even more overjoyed, believing that they are about to have a world-shattering academic achievement.
Zoologists and paleontologists have speculated through photographs that the sea monster they captured this time is likely to be the biggest discovery of the century. Because it was most likely a plesiosaur. If it really is a plesiosaur, then they will have a national treasure in Japan. Just like the giant pandas owned by China.
But the blow came so quickly! When Professor Shizuo Shikio, a Japanese biologist, offered to investigate the carcasses of the sea monsters, he learned that the captain had ordered the crew to throw the bodies into the sea early in the morning.
Professor Shikama almost didn't come up when he heard this, and when he reacted, he scolded the captain with hatred: "It seems that Japan's education is really poor!" In this era, some people would throw away national treasures for a mere 200 million yen worth of goods. This is simply the biggest fool in the world. ”
Although the body of the sea monster was thrown away, the crew of the Fishing Boat "Ruiyang Maru" was still like stars, receiving unprecedented courtesy. Because after all, they are a group of people who have seen the sea monsters with their own eyes, and if they want to get first-hand information, they have to ask them.
But the captain didn't have such good luck. The Japanese people have accused the captain of losing Japan's "national treasure", which is a big joke.
The captain felt very sorry, but there was nothing he could do. If he knew that this might be a "national treasure", no matter how much money he lost, he would also pull back the body of the sea monster. When the time comes, when the media reports, his name will definitely have a place. Moreover, such a precious sea monster would surely bring him a lot of wealth.
I only hate that there is no regret medicine in this world, otherwise the captain will buy it for himself to eat.
The captain missed the national treasure and was full of remorse. And those experts, even more, sighed. I thought I could have a world-renowned academic discovery in my lifetime, but I lost it. But for years, the crowd has not given up on finding the sea monster. Not only Japan, but also people from other countries have joined the search for sea monsters.
Upon learning the news, the Japanese Ocean Fisheries immediately launched all the boats in the waters around New Zealand to catch the monsters. Subsequently, the United States, the Soviet Union and the Philippines also sent ships to salvage. They all want to be the first to catch the body of this sea monster and add a "national treasure" to their country.
But the longer it takes to discard the sea monster, the less hope of finding its tracks in the place where it was discarded. The vast sea, even if it is a behemoth, small winds and waves have little impact on it. But when the big wave came, I didn't know where it would take it.
Although many fleets expanded their search, they still found nothing.
The sea monster seemed to be joking with humans. After it was thrown into the sea, so many salvage teams did not find any trace of it. It's like a gust of wind, coming and going without a trace. Over time, people slowly had to accept that they couldn't find the sea monster. Even if it is difficult to reconcile, there is nothing that can be done. To miss is to miss.
This incident has become a regret in the hearts of many Japanese people. Later, in order to make up for this "regret", the Japanese resurrected the captured sea monster in the cartoon "Ultraman". It is said to be the zombie monster Silizan that appeared in diga Ultraman's fifth episode, "The Day the Monsters Haunted".
The sleeping Silizan was accidentally swept onto the beach by the waves. The Victory Team, on the way to transport it, fell off the hook lock and woke him up. Later, there is the story of the zombie monster Silizan who put pollution everywhere and fought Diga Ultraman.
Although there has never been a trace of the sea monster, people have not given up the study of the mystery of the sea monster's life. In desperation, people had to rely on the photos taken by Michihiko Yano and the fins on the sea monsters left behind to study. However, they soon realized that the sea monster carcasses belonged neither to sharks nor to cetaceans.
In September 1977, Japan held two colloquiums on the issue of the identity of sea monsters. Experts agreed at the time that the sea monsters discovered were most likely legendary prehistoric reptiles.
However, no body was found, and it is difficult to convince the public from the photos and roots alone. Opinions vary from side to side, but what kind of animal it is is still a mystery. There are currently three mainstream theories about the identity of this sea monster. One is a prehistoric plesiosaur, one is a basking shark, and the other is some kind of unknown mysterious sea monster. Each argument is supported by its own arguments.
Experts who agree with the first theory, that is, the sea monsters are prehistoric plesiosaurs, mainly from the study of flesh proteins. Although the carcass has the same fibers as basking sharks, it is very low.
Experts therefore believe that the association between this sea monster and basking shark should be very low. Moreover, according to CRS information, according to the descriptions of the crew members who captured the body at the scene, they all determined that the body had only upper fins, but no dorsal fins. So experts support the claim that the sea monster is a plesiosaur.
There are also many experts who agree with the second theory, that is, that the sea monster is a basking shark. The basking shark is the second largest shark in the world, it can reach more than ten meters in size, and it is also widely distributed. The New Zealand area where the "Ruiyang Maru" catches the carcasses of sea monsters is one of the ranges of basking sharks.
A study by the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) in the United States found that plesiosaurs had at least 13 cervical vertebrae, but sea monster corpses only had 6 to 7 cervical vertebrae.
The sternum of the plesiosaur was large and flat, and should not have been bent like the corpse in the sea monster photo. In addition to these, according to the fossils of plesiosaurs found in the past, it can be seen that the maxilla and teeth of plesiosaurs should still be preserved. But basking sharks have very small teeth and are often overlooked. The body of the sea monster that happened to be captured was only the jawbone and no teeth.
After experts tested other total amino acids and fibers, they decided that the sea monster could not have been a plesiosaur. It is the most likely basking shark.
In addition to the two claims mentioned above, there is also a faction of experts who believe that the sea monsters they captured are some kind of creature that humans do not yet know. Because sea monster corpses have many characteristics that are different from sharks. For example, the color of the flesh, the taste of the corpse, the state of cartilage decay, and so on. Based on these circumstances, they firmly believed that the corpse was some kind of unknown mysterious creature.
The sea monster was caught by a Japanese fishing boat in 1977, more than forty years ago. Three theories about the monster's origin are still inconclusive. Just by relying on the available information, each has its own reasoning, and no one can really convince the other. At present, there is no stronger evidence, so there is still no conclusion about the identity of the sea monster.
Today's human beings have long set their sights on outer space, and the rapid development of the space industry also shows people's enthusiasm for outer space exploration. We can proudly say that the pace of human exploration has gone a long way. But on the earth we live on, we humans still have many unknown areas and unknown creatures. We should be in awe of the unknown.
There are many unsolved mysteries in the world, such as the Loch Ness Monster and the Sea of Japan Monster, which often become the most mysterious part of history. The characteristics of human beings are the search and desire for the unknown world. I believe that if we can one day solve these unsolved mysteries, it may bring many important changes to our society.