This is the disturbing Life of Die moment fishermen find the perfectly preserved corpse of a tiger floating in the sea.

Heartbreaking phone footage from the boat in the Sea of Japan off the coast of Vladivostok, eastern Russia, emerged on social media on 18th May.

The dumbstruck anglers filmed the rare adult Amur tiger floating past their boat in a clip that instantly spread all over social media.

It appeared to be a complete corpse of the big cat which showed no sign of injury and had not apparently been butchered by trophy hunters.

The baffling find prompted the city prosecutor's office to launch an investigation into the mysterious death.

Police confirmed that the dead animal was an Amur, or Siberian, tiger, a critically endangered species that typically inhabits the forests of Russia's Far East.

City prosecutors added: "All circumstances of the incident, including the reasons for the animal’s death, will be established."

The regional hunting supervision service said they are trying to verify the sighting and locate the tiger's body to find out how it died.

A spokesperson said: "Specialists are carrying out urgent measures to search for and recover the predator's body from the water."

(MJ Leidig/newsX)