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Mysterious sea creature washes up on shore in Russia

This mysterious sea creature has scientists scratching their heads. (Photo: SakhalinMedia)

Scientists are baffled after the remains of an odd-looking sea monster washed up on the shores of Sakhalin Island in Russia.

Pictures of the carcass were taken by locals and posted online, where it created a stir on social media.

Images of the unidentified sea animal show the carcass ripped apart with its bones popping out. It has fur on its tail and its huge — twice the size of a human being. It also has a very large nose that looks like a bird’s beak.

According to The Siberian Times, scientists have said that the remains are similar to a dolphin.

“Judging by the appearance of the head, this is clearly some big dolphin,” Nikolay Kim, from the department of the Sakhalin Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, told the news outlet. “According to a characteristic of the skin, it is a rare species.”

Another expert from Essex University told The Daily Mail that the sea animal could be “pre-historic specimen frozen in the permafrost,” like a mammoth.

The fur on this mysterious creature seems to quickly dispel the dolphin theory.

On social media, one comment jokes about Russia’s cold weather causing the sea animal to grow fur: “Probably, our summer is so cold that even the Indian Dolphins getting into the local waters, are covered with fur.”

But one expert points out that a dolphin from India wouldn’t be able to survive in the salty ocean en route to the Sakhalin Island.

The most logical claim comes from a professor at Oxford University who believes the creature was a giant beaked whale.

What do you think it could be?