Fishermen near Juneau called biologists to report the sighting of a giant squid carcass yesterday. But the dead animal was not what it seemed. https://t.co/b3uOyQlVSi pic.twitter.com/ctYCOL5ctu
— Juneau Empire (@JuneauEmpire) July 18, 2018
JUNEAU – A dead sea creature that Alaska fishermen believed to be a giant squid turned out to be the decaying carcass of a humpback whale, officials said.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration received reports Tuesday from fishermen near St. James Bay northwest of Juneau saying there was a 30-foot squid floating in the water, the Juneau Empire reported.
NOAA sent a biologist from the Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute to investigate. The biologist discovered the creature was a "badly decomposed" whale, which was missing its head and tail, said Julie Speegle, a NOAA spokesperson. The fishermen may have mistaken bones protruding from the carcass for an eye.
"We think it was floating belly up and there were some vertebrae and a ball and socket from the pectoral joint that were visible," Speegle said. "That may have been what people were mistaking for an eye."
The carcass was possibly the same whale that washed ashore in June after it was likely killed by a collision with a large sea vessel, Speegle said. The Marine Mammal Stranding Network conducted a necropsy on that male whale last month. The results are still pending.
The whale was spotted in the water Tuesday after it was observed still beached earlier in the day, Speegle said.