# Giant Dead Sea Thing washes up on Seram island in Indonesia **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 12, 2017, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-dead-sea-thing-washes-up-on-seram-island-in-indonesia/786476 "2017-05-12T19:52:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-dead-sea-thing-washes-up-on-seram-island-in-indonesia/786476/1 "2017-05-12T19:52:41Z")
This’ll get your mind off Trump for a while A giany whatsis has washed up on the island of Seram in Indonesia. The Jakarta Globe says it’s a Giant Squid. Others claim that it has a backbone and baleen, so it’s a whale. I frankly can’t tell from the pictures. I think I see something that looks like a row of suckers, which you don’t see on many whales. Whatever it is, it’s rotting and turning the water red. > **[This Giant Dead Sea Creature Washed Up On An Island, And It's Freaking...](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/massive-sea-creature-indonesia-island_n_5915e11ee4b0031e737d59ae?y1=&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009)** > > The 50-foot carcass is turning the water a deep, eerie shade of red. > **[Dead Giant Squid Washes Up on Seram Island in Maluku](https://jakartaglobe.id/news/dead-giant-squid-washes-up-on-seram-island-in-maluku)** > > The remains of a giant squid washed up on the shores of Seram Island in Maluku province earlier this week. > **[Giant squid carcass washes up on remote Indonesian beach](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4498088/Giant-squid-carcass-washes-remote-Indonesian-beach.html)** > > The 15m carcass was discovered by Asrul Tuanakota, a local resident, on the northern shore of Seram Island in the Maluku province. This can’t be doing much for tourism. And guessing the identification of the thing is apparently driving people nuts. I wonder how it smells? ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-dead-sea-thing-washes-up-on-seram-island-in-indonesia/786476/2 "2017-05-12T19:56:49Z")
I think this might be one of my relatives. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-dead-sea-thing-washes-up-on-seram-island-in-indonesia/786476/3 "2017-05-12T20:00:46Z")
Another one? Why does that ocean keep dumping it’s giant rotting corpses on our beaches? Anyway, as usual the best way to deal with a giant rotting corpse is blow it up with dynamite. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-dead-sea-thing-washes-up-on-seram-island-in-indonesia/786476/4 "2017-05-12T20:00:52Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I wonder how it smells? It can’t smell (or see or hear)–it is dead. . ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-dead-sea-thing-washes-up-on-seram-island-in-indonesia/786476/5 "2017-05-12T20:08:03Z")
I vote whale. It smells badly. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-dead-sea-thing-washes-up-on-seram-island-in-indonesia/786476/6 "2017-05-12T20:09:02Z")
Haven’t any experts gone to the site to examine it in person? There’s only so much you can say from a photograph. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-dead-sea-thing-washes-up-on-seram-island-in-indonesia/786476/7 "2017-05-12T20:12:31Z")
Looks like a whale to me. The side on the right looks like rotted baleen and I think I see a jawbone under it in the water. It also looks like the skin has peeled off the skull showing naked bone. Here’s a bluw whale skull and skeleton for comparison. [http://i.imgur.com/VmELk.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/VmELk.jpg), [http://i.imgur.com/dplqm.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/dplqm.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-dead-sea-thing-washes-up-on-seram-island-in-indonesia/786476/8 "2017-05-12T20:14:03Z")
The Huff Po article says it is a “49-foot creature”, which rules out both squid and whale. Neither of those have any feet at all. I’m guessing it is a monopod orgy gone terribly wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-dead-sea-thing-washes-up-on-seram-island-in-indonesia/786476/9 "2017-05-12T20:18:37Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > The Huff Po article says it is a “49-foot creature”, which rules out both squid and whale. Neither of those have any feet at all. > > I’m guessing it is a monopod orgy gone terribly wrong. “No, no, not Dufflepud!” Let’s go to the quarry and throw stuff down there! ETA: This reminds me of the dead thing on the beach on Massachusetts or New Jersey or somewhere on the NE US coast a while back. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-dead-sea-thing-washes-up-on-seram-island-in-indonesia/786476/10 "2017-05-12T20:32:04Z")
How did it get from the Dead Sea to Indonesia? 😕 Probably should have stayed at home. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-dead-sea-thing-washes-up-on-seram-island-in-indonesia/786476/11 "2017-05-12T20:39:54Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > ETA: This reminds me of the dead thing on the beach on Massachusetts or New Jersey or somewhere on the NE US coast a while back. You mean the Montauk Racoon, or something bigger? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-dead-sea-thing-washes-up-on-seram-island-in-indonesia/786476/12 "2017-05-12T21:03:55Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > You mean the Montauk Racoon, or something bigger? Aye; that’s the one I was thinking of. I remembered the place name started with “M” but I couldn’t remember if it was the city or the state. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-dead-sea-thing-washes-up-on-seram-island-in-indonesia/786476/13 "2017-05-12T21:12:03Z")
Are they going to [blow it up?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFwxH3PPWiU) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-dead-sea-thing-washes-up-on-seram-island-in-indonesia/786476/14 "2017-05-12T21:14:47Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Are they going to [blow it up?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFwxH3PPWiU) I hope not. I’ve read Dave Barry’s column on that often enough. It’s still largely in the water. You’d think they could hook into it and tow it offshore somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-dead-sea-thing-washes-up-on-seram-island-in-indonesia/786476/15 "2017-05-12T21:27:04Z")
Is there any culture where people would look at that and say “yum?” I know in Iceland they eat [rotting shark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A1karl#Preparation)… ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-dead-sea-thing-washes-up-on-seram-island-in-indonesia/786476/16 "2017-05-12T22:07:19Z")
Better than lutefisk. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-dead-sea-thing-washes-up-on-seram-island-in-indonesia/786476/17 "2017-05-12T22:23:32Z")
Definitely whale. Bones and baleen are clearly visible. Also the fact that it is “dying the sea red” around it indicates a vertebrate, since squid have blue blood. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-dead-sea-thing-washes-up-on-seram-island-in-indonesia/786476/18 "2017-05-12T22:28:39Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Is there any culture where people would look at that and say “yum?” I know in Iceland they eat [rotting shark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A1karl#Preparation)… While [hakarl](https://satwcomic.com/nordics-like-fish) is a thing, I would submit that even hardcore Nordic types would take issue with the preparation (or at least presentation) of this “dish”. (I’d use a tongue-sticking-out emoji, but I don’t want to risk even virtually tasting anything in this post.) Oh, and to be vaguely on topic, I’m pretty sure that the thing in the water is the remains of a whale. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-dead-sea-thing-washes-up-on-seram-island-in-indonesia/786476/19 "2017-05-12T22:42:28Z")
Hakarl is eaten because the shark is toxic when fresh. “Ageing” it removes the toxin (trimethylamine oxide). I’d think they’d prefer this one fresh. Usually these mystery sea monster corpses are basking sharks 90% of the time. Though this particular one looks like a whale. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-dead-sea-thing-washes-up-on-seram-island-in-indonesia/786476/20 "2017-05-13T01:34:23Z")
There’s only two things that large, and one of them isn’t that large. So it’s clearly a whale. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-dead-sea-thing-washes-up-on-seram-island-in-indonesia/786476.md?page=2)