PIERCE, S. K.; MASSEY, S. E. *; CURTIS, N. E.; MAUGEL, T. K.; Univ. of South Florida, Tampa; Univ. of South Florida, Tampa; Univ. of South Florida, Tampa; Univ. of Maryland, College Park: Identification of the Chilean sea monster

The �Chilean blob�, the remains of a large sea creature that beached on the Chilean coast in July 2003, generated a large amount of attention. In several major news media and on the Internet, the carcass was immediately described as being the remains of a giant octopus or even an alien, although data supporting either identification were lacking entirely. Elsa Cabrera of the Chilean Centro de Conservacion Cetacea sent us preserved and fresh samples of the remains. We have applied electron microscopic, biochemical and molecular techniques to clarify the species of origin of the carcass. Electron microscopy revealed that the remains are largely composed of an acellular, fibrous network reminiscent of the collagen fiber network in whale blubber. Amino acid analyses of an acid hydrolysate found that the fibers are composed of 35% glycine residues as well as hydroxyproline and hydroxylysine, all diagnostic characteristics of collagen. An 800 bp PCR product was amplified from DNA purified from the carcass, using primers designed to the mitochondrial gene, nad2. The DNA sequence of the PCR product was 100 % identical to that of sperm whale (Physeter catadon). These results unequivocally demonstrate that the �Chilean blob� is the almost-completely decomposed remains of the blubber layer of a sperm whale. The results are also the same as those we have obtained before from other relics such as the St. Augustine (FL) so-called giant octopus and the Tasmanian West Coast Monster. It is clear now that most of the blobs of popular and cryptozoological interest are in fact the decomposed remains of large cetaceans.