The Tasmanian Globster was a large unidentified carcass that washed ashore north of Interview River in western

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, in August 1960. It measured by and was estimated to weigh between 5 and 10

ton Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean * the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds ...

s. The mass lacked eyes and in place of a mouth, had "soft, tusk-like protuberances". It had a spine, six soft, fleshy 'arms' and stiff, white bristles covering its body. The carcass was identified as a

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

by L.E. Wall in the journal ''Tasmanian Naturalist'' in 1981, and a later

electron microscopy An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of accelerated electrons as a source of illumination. As the wavelength of an electron can be up to 100,000 times shorter than that of visible light photons, electron microscopes have a hi ...

analysis of the collagen fibers confirmed this.Pierce, S., S. Massey, N. Curtis, G. Smith, C. Olavarría & T. Maugel 2004. ''Biological Bulletin'' 206: 125-133 The term ''

globster A globster or blob is an unidentified organic mass that washes up on the shoreline of an ocean or other body of water. A globster is distinguished from a normal beached carcass by being hard to identify, at least by initial untrained observers, ...

'' was coined in 1962 by

Ivan T. Sanderson Ivan Terence Sanderson (January 30, 1911 – February 19, 1973) was a British biologist and writer born in Edinburgh, Scotland, who became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Along with Belgian-French biologist Bernard Heuvelmans, San ...

to describe this carcass and the name ''Sea Santa'', coined by another journalist in the same year.

References

{{coord, -41.56, 144.87, display=title Globsters History of Tasmania 1960 in Australia August 1960 events in Australia