Monster theorising

Press, 26 July 1977, Page 1

Monster theorising

Christchurch zoologists are sceptical about reports that the monster hauled from the sea off New Zealand in April is a plesiosaurus — the theory of a Japanese authority.

“Plesiosauruses are a group of marine reptiles which as far as we know have been extinct for millions of years,” said the head of the zoology department at the University of Canterbury (Professor G. A. Knox). If the creature was a plesiosaurus, it would have to surface for air — because reptiles are not completely aquatic animals — and it would be unlikely that it had not been seen before.

He emphasised that when something was decomposed, scientists could easily be misled. However, because he had seen only a blurred photograph, and newspaper articles, it was difficult for him to say what the creature might be.

There was still a remote possibility though that the

plesiosaurus still existed; the coelacanth was thought to be extinct until one was discovered off the coast of South Africa, said Professor Knox.

If the object was a plesiosaurus, it would be an extremely exciting find, said the curator of vertebrates at the Canterbury Museum (Mr G. A. Tunnicliffe). However this was unlikely as the species had been thought to have been extinct for many millions of years.

Professor Tokio Shikama, a scholar of ancient animals at Yokohama National University, identified the creature as a plesiosaurus after examining colour pictures of it brought back to Japan.

It could not be a fish or a mammal, and had to be a plesiosaurus, he said. “These creatures must still roam the seas off New Zealand, feeding on fish. There are not many of them, and they are very cautious.”

Crewmen on a Japanese

trawler reported last Wednesday that they netted the two-ton corpse of the creature about 300 m below the surface of the sea while fishing off Christchurch.

A crewman took several photographs of the creature and measured it carefully, before it was thrown back into the sea.

They brought back a nine-inch piece of tissue from the creature, brown in colour and divided into three whisker-like portions at the tip. This is being examined by scientists at the Ocean Fishery Resources Development Centre, in Tokyo.

Professor Shikama said the waters where the corpse was found are an “ideal habitat” for a plesiosaurus. The surface temperature of water is cool, and the area abounds in fish.

Japanese officials said the area is “a treasure house of fish,” because a warm current from New Zealand met a cold stream from Antarctica.