Deep Sea Monster Baffles Scientists

sbszine writes "The Sydney Morning Herald has a report of a bizarre sea creature that has washed up on the coast of Chile. The creature is grey, lumpy, and the size of a school bus. Scientists have ruled out the possibility that it may be a whale -- the creature is an invertebrate, and perhaps even a new species."

Also found nearby...

[daeley]

'And wow! Hey! What's this thing coming towards me very fast? Very very fast. So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding word like... ow... ound... round... ground! That's it! That's a good name -- ground! I wonder if it will be friends with me?'

ref [umich.edu]

So what's the point..

[Anonymous Coward]

.. if it doesn't have frikin' laserguns on it's head?!

CowboyNeal!!

[Anonymous Coward]

They finally found him!

Southpark?

[forsetti]

Reminds me of a certain SouthPark episode, involving a Trapper Keeper.......

Mr Garrison: ... Children, there's some huge bulbous monstrosity heading for the classroom! ...

Rosie O'Donnell: Hello, kids!

Maybe she went swimming and drown?

Re:Climate change causing this?

[Arthur Dent]

Well, I was going to put in a link to the global warming theories, but decided against it since the global cooling theories do not get that much visibility :)

Maybe...

[dlockamy]

It's Saddam's long lost WMDs..
(biological division of course)

A slashtroll

[wowbagger]

Obviously, this is the remains of a slashtroll.

Consider: Large. Smelly. Spineless. Gray.

A slashtroll ventured away from his keyboard under the bridge, and went to the beach, perhaps in search of a mate. It was caught by the sunlight (which it was completely unprepared for) and killed.

So, all we need is for some sick^Wstupid^Wbrave person to volunteer to visit the depths of -1 and see what trolls have stopped posting.

I'd volunteer, but I just don't care.

Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!

[dasunt]

"Formless protoplasm able to mock and reflect all forms and organs and processes - viscous agglutinations of bubbling cells -- rubbery fifteen-foot spheroids infinately plastic and ductile -- slaves of suggestion, builders of cities -- more and more sullen, more and more intelligent, more and more amphibious, more and more imitative! Great God! What madness made even those blasphemous Old Ones willing to use [...] such things?

"At the Mountains of Madness", by H. P. Lovecraft

I'm waiting for the next slashdot story: "Decapitated, Slime-Covered Body of Researcher Found!"

Chileans - smarter than the Oregon Highway Patrol

[John Harrison]

At least they didn't put a cache of explosives under it and try to get rid of it by detonating it.

Whatever it is

[orthogonal]

The dead creature was mistaken for a beached whale when first reported about a week ago, but experts who went to see it said the 12-metre mass of decomposing lumpy grey flesh apparently was an invertebrate.

In other news, Darl McBride doesn't know what it is either, but has confirmed that SCO will sue it.

McBride alleged that being an "[nvertebrate] mass of decomposing lumpy grey flesh" is a business process patent owned exclusively by, and licensed exclusively to, SCO, and that therefore the sea monster is infringing SCO's IP.

I've got it!!

[Stonent1]

The creature is grey, lumpy, and the size of a school bus.

Jimmy Hoffa! I knew he'd be found!

Re:Can't find pics of it

[hplasm]

Cthulhu fhtagn, Cthulhu fhtagn! Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn! No Cameras! No Cameras! Cthulhu fhtagn!

Identity Known

[MountainLogic]

It's the source code for Internet Explorer

texture and smell

[chloroquine]

"There was speculation that the mass might be a whale skin, but Cabrera said it was too big and did not have the right texture or smell."

The thing that intrigues me is that there are people who have expertise in the area of texture and smell of decomposing whale skin. Is there a professional society for these people?

Anyway, sounds neat, and I'm sure they can figure out if it is a whale by doing a little PCR and sequencing. (I think this is my answer to most science questions these days)