The first is a globster (whale fat, but can't remember the explanation for the tentacles though), the second is covered exclusively here on TONMO.com --
... that Lusca photo has been doctored (it must have); those could not possibly be 'suckers' (it seems that the image is most clear in that particular area, and everywhere else it's rather fuzzy/grainy). It would take an awful lot of food (daily) to support an octopus of that sort of size.
Photoshop, if you ask me... The tentacles look different from the body in pixel quality and texture.
I would love to go with the whole "Cthulu rising" concept, but I have to think that this photo was doctored. Shame, really... I think cryptozology is a worthy pursuit that more often than not goes horribly awry.
SOS do you have any more pix of the Haliphron Atlanticus? The pic on the website looks like a zombie or something. :? Maybe something to compare it against?
Looks like a dead and butchered whale on a beach, to me. The tentacles on the sand would be entrails, and the arms with suckers might be the jawbones (the curvature is right). John and Steve are right, the photo does look manipulated, and the pose of the oarsmen seems just a little too jaunty.
On the bright side, I'm going to change my name to "Trunko."
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