CNN:Giant sea creature baffles Chilean scientists

[No-one of note]

Giant sea creature baffles Chilean scientists

SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) -- Chilean scientists were baffled on Tuesday by 
a huge, gelatinous sea creature found washed up on the southern Pacific 
coast and were seeking international help identifying the mystery specimen. 

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 40-foot-long (12-
meter) mass of decomposing lumpy grey flesh apparently was an invertebrate. 

"We'd never before seen such a strange specimen, We don't know if it might 
be a giant squid that is missing some of its parts or maybe it's a new 
species," said Elsa Cabrera, a marine biologist and director of the Center 
for Cetacean Conservation in Santiago. 

Photographs showed a round leathery substance like a mammoth jelly fish, 
about as long as a school bus. 

-->more, including photograph at:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/americas/07/02/chile.science.reut/index.html

Any thoughts much appreciated.

WAFDH