Huge sea creature that washed ashore in Indonesia identified by scientists

A giant sea creature, washed up on a beach in Indonesia last week, leaving everyone in the virtual world guessing, has been identified by scientists.

George Leonard, the chief scientist at the Ocean Conservancy, told the Huffington Post that the rotting carcass was probably a baleen whale, judging by parts of a protruding skeleton and what appear to be baleen plates used to filter out food.

Last week, a giant sea creature washed up on the Serum Island of Indonesia.

Residents who first saw the carcass mistook it to be a stranded boat but after closer inspection, they determined that it was the rotting corpse of a 50-foot-long dead sea creature - possibly a giant squid because the remains looked like tentacles.

Watch: Massive 'sea monster' washes ashore in Indonesia, people mistook it to be a stranded boat

Decomposition gases bloated the whale into a very un-whale-like shape, and some of the noxious gases were seeping out.

Seram, the largest island in the Maluku Island group, is near the migration routes for baleen whales, so it makes sense that one would be nearby. Locals have asked the government to help remove the carcass, the Huffington Post reported.

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