Creature record / 2013
15 August 2013. A Thursday afternoon on Luis Siret Beach, in the village of Villaricos on the coast of Almería. A bather found something in the water. A head, with what looked like two horns. Civil Protection helped her retrieve the rest. A long, ribbon-like body, 4 to 5 metres long, in an advanced state of decomposition. "We have no idea what it was," said coordinator María Sánchez. "It really stank." Her photographs went around the world within days. Dragon. Oarfish. Mutant fish. Then an ichthyologist looked closer and saw a shark skeleton, its "horns" the supports of the pectoral fins. By then the carcass was already buried, and no DNA test was ever done.
Villaricos is a small coastal village in the municipality of Cuevas del Almanzora, in the province of Almería. At the end of its seafront promenade, beside the La Balsica fishing harbour, lies a small cove. Luis Siret Beach. It is named after Luis Siret, the Belgian archaeologist who led most of the digs in the municipality.