Elleda Wilson: Godzilla?
Sep. 8—"Godzilla? Here is a mystery that has yet to be solved," Don Kelly wrote on the Northwest Artifact Recovery Team Facebook page recently.
"Many years ago, out around the Pacific sea mount, at a depth of over 400 fathoms (2,400 feet), an old drag fisherman got his net hooked to something that they had to try and pull loose from. As it was hauled to the surface, they realized they had broken off a large piece of sand coral. My brother, Dick Kelly, of Skipanon Marine & RV Supply, was given the large piece to display in his store, but he had noticed something strange on (it).
"I must admit I was skeptical at first, but now convinced that this does look like a footprint of some sort of animal. The print is about 8 inches long, with distinctive toe markings to me. It might just be a trick of the eye, but aren't mysteries fun?"
The Ear sent Don's photo of the coral to Nicolle Hill, at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. She kindly sent it on to Forbes Darby.
"I asked one of our deep-sea coral scientists, Abi Powell, for her thoughts," Forbes replied. "She believes this is the skeleton of a glass sponge, Heterochone calyx, one of the most spectacular deep-sea sponges we see off the West Coast. In life, she says, it's a light yellow/orange vase-shaped sponge that has hollow finger-like projections all over the outside. She thinks the picture shows the inside surface of the sponge." Sadly, that pretty well rules out Godzilla.
