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We Found Out What the Fuck This Thing Is

Everybody's arguing about whether this is a giant squid or a dead whale or something even weirder.
Screengrab: Patasiwa Kumbang Amalatu/YouTube

A huge, bloody, rotting corpse has washed up in Indonesia, and nobody knows for sure what it is. Locals first spotted the 15-meter-long monster (that's nearly 50 feet) off the shores of Seram Island on Tuesday night, and initially thought it was a boat because it was so big. Now people are arguing about whether it's a giant squid, a dead whale, or some other kind of creature. Indonesian media calls it a squid, based on reports from people who saw it actually floating there. If that's the case, 15 meters would be pretty huge. Giant squids are some of the biggest invertebrates on the planet, big enough to tangle with a sperm whale, and can measure up to 65 feet (20 meters), according to a 2016 paper looking at their maximum length. (Fake photos of giant squid washed up on beaches have gone around before, but this thing appears to be real, and there's video.)

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