Persian Gulf Whale Carcass Reportedly Found By Iranian Navy (PHOTOS)

No, it's not a publicity stunt for the Middle East opening of "Pacific Rim." That's a big, reportedly stinky carcass discovered by the Iranian navy on July 11.

Photos of the gnarly carcass were posted to a website serving the city of Bushehr in western Iran on the Persian Gulf. Based on the vertebrae and blackened skin of the carcass, Reddit users postulated that it was the remains of a whale.

"The blackened skin and vertebrae are a good giveaway, I wish the pictures were a bit bigger so I could wager a guess at what kind it was, but it's hard to make out!" wrote user Unidan, who is regarded as an expert in biology by members of the social news community.

The Huffington Post reached out to Dr. Gary Griggs, director of the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz, for a second opinion about the floating carcass.

"From my vast knowledge and experience with whales and their skeletons, it is clearly a whale," Dr. Griggs wrote in an email to HuffPost. "Although with the condition of the body, [it's] difficult for me to determine what kind of whale."

Take a look at the images above.