This article was first published in August 2023.
An unearthed news segment about a fishing crew dredging up the corpse of a mysterious sea creature off New Zealand's coast in 1977 is making headlines overseas.
The sea creature, nicknamed Nessie, was found by a Japanese trawler ship that was sailing east of Christchurch.
But the ship's captain Akira Tanaka decided to throw the animal's body back overboard because of its foul smell.
The 30-foot carcass weighed 1800kg and had a long neck, four large red fins and a two-metre-long tail.
Despite throwing the rotting carcass back, the crew managed to take several photos and samples.
There was a heated debate amongst scientists about what Nessie was with some suggesting it was the corpse of a plesiosaur. However, the prehistoric creature became extinct along with the rest of the dinosaurs more than 65 million years ago.
It was later concluded the animal was most likely a basking shark or a closely related species.
But now the mystery has been reignited, with a number of British newspapers posting articles about the story sparking renewed interest in the tale.
