Was the tsunami email factual or a hoax?

Following the disastrous tsunami of 26 December 2004, thousands of people received emails that contained images of amazing deepsea creatures supposedly washed up on Thailand's Phuket beach. This email is a hoax.

Pelican Eel, Eurypharynx pelecanoides
Robin McPhee © NORFANZ Founding Parties

The animals shown in the images were collected during the joint New Zealand and Australia Norfolk Ridge - Lord Howe Rise Biodiversity Voyage (NORFANZ) in May - June 2003. The images were used by the unknown hoaxers without permission of the copyright owners.