CARLSBAD -- A gory find at Carlsbad State Beach turned out to be the decomposed torso of a seal or sea lion -- and not that of a human being as first believed, a police dispatcher said.

The carcass was found just before 6 p.m. at the end of Cherry Avenue, the dispatcher said.

Several officers responded, creating a small commotion among onlookers at the beach, a photographer at the scene said. An investigator from the county medical examiner's officer arrived a short time later and determined it was either a seal or sea lion, the dispatcher said.