Sea creature sparks Nessie banter
Viral photographs of a sea creature that washed up on a beach in northern Scotland last week, sparking speculation that it was relative of the Loch Ness Monster, have been identified as a Conger eel.
GrindTV reports that David Mackland and his family were walking on the beach at East Haven beach, north of St Andrews, when he found the carcass.
Mr Mackland took photographs of the strange creature and told the UK Evening Telegraph that it had a set of sharp teeth and was about 2 metres long and 30cm wide.
"We were just walking on the beach to see what we could find and we came across this," he said. "It was pretty big. You could see the teeth straight away.
"You don't usually see stuff like that. You very rarely see fish on the beach. You sometimes see dead birds, but it is unusual to see that."
Mr Mackland said a big chunk had been taken out of it and that it must have been killed at sea before washing up on the beach.
"When you get a look at the head and the teeth you think, 'Now that's one mean-looking fish,'" he added.
Online speculation ranged from a relative of "Nessie" to a pike, shark, eel or ling.
A man holds up the mystery creature. Photo: David Mackland and OurCarnoustie.
