A POSSIBLE PROTOGALAXY NEAR M81

CCD images covering the region of a molecular complex east of M81 show no optical counterpart. This excludes the presence of unembedded mass ive (>10 M.) stars and an association with a low surface brightness (l ess-than-or-equal-to 27.0m/arcsec2 in B for B - R=1.5m) galaxy. The co mplex is thus quite different from any of the presumably young active dwarfs observed in the vicinity of interacting systems. It is likely t he first known 'protogalaxy', representing the missing link between ti dal HI arms and active star forming regions well displaced from the ce nters of the associated interacting galaxies. An irregular shaped obje ct of unknown nature (size: 20''; B - R=1.3m) is detected 50'' NW of t he molecular complex.