Mystery sea monster washes up on beach in Russia
A sea creature that was spotted on a beach in Russia has left experts baffled for eight years.
According to English Russia, the creature was found by Russian soldiers on the Sakhalin shoreline in 2006. The Sakhalin area is situated near to Japan,and is the most eastern part of Russia, almost 5000 miles east of Moscow.
The remains first of all left experts confused as tests on the the bones and teeth showed it was not a fish, crocodile or alligator.
This fuelled theories that the hair-tufted 20ft remains could have been from a prehistoric creature.
But marine experts have now come to the conclusion that it is in fact the skeleton of a large beluga whale, according to news.com.au.
According to Wikipedia, the beluga whale or white whale is an Arctic and sub-Arctic cetacean. It is one of two members of the family Monodontidae, along with the narwhal.
This marine mammal is commonly referred to simply as the melonhead, beluga or sea canary due to its high-pitched twitter.
It is adapted to life in the Arctic, so has anatomical and physiological characteristics that differentiate it from other cetaceans. Amongst these are its unmistakable all-white colour and the absence of a dorsal fin.
Not a scary sea creature after all.
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