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Scientists are struggling to identify a mystery sea creature which consumed an alligator's body whole.

The team from Louisiana dropped three gator corpses to the bottom of the ocean to see how long they would last.

But to their shock, a mystery predator snatched one of the bodies whole after biting through the rope.

Despite the fact the alligator and its harness had a combined weight of 38.9kg (85.8lbs), the creature dragged it 30ft through the sand.

Scientists who returned to the drop zone in the Gulf of Mexico eight days later found nothing but an alligator-shaped dip in the seabed and the weight with the rope still attached.

(Image: Pen News)

Another gator had its bones picked clean within just a few weeks, by which time a type of zombie worm had started feasting on the skeleton left behind.

While a third alligator was devoured by deep-sea crustaceans.

Dr Craig McClain of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium - which organised the mission - said there was no way of knowing for sure what had snatched the missing gator.

"We have no video evidence for what removed that alligator," he said.

"Through a process of reasoning and exploring different options, we think that one of two species of shark is the most likely candidate."

But he added that this was just "a hypothesis at this time".

(Image: Pen News)

The two most likely culprits are thought to be a Greenland shark or a sixgill shark, who would have eaten it whole.

Scientists were also stunned by what had happened to the other alligators, as they expected that the reptiles' tough hides would stop creatures from getting to the soft tissue underneath.

But less than 24 hours later, they found that a group of giant isopods, each as big as an American football, had already penetrated one gator's hide.

And when they checked up on the other alligator around six weeks later, they found just the skeleton, with no soft tissue remaining.

(Image: Pen News)

The bones also revealed a never-before-seen type of zombie worm, or osedax, which eats into the skeleton and feeds on the lipids within.

This is the first time the worms have ever been seen in the Gulf of Mexico.

The scientists dropped the three alligators on the ocean bed around one-and-a-half miles below the surface.

They were hoping to understand how the carbon-hungry creatures of the deep would react to finding the gator in their environment.

(Image: Pen News)

"Our group seeks to understand how carbon is cycled through oceans as well as the connections between land and oceans in the carbon cycle," Dr McClain added.

"Given that large populations of crocodilians are often near coastal habitats, our group seeks to understand how their carcasses might serve as a carbon source in the deep oceans.

"How quickly can deep-sea organisms, and through what part of the food web, access this carbon?"