LOCALS have been left puzzled after mysterious remains of a creature washed up on the shores of a Yorkshire beach.
Haz Key spotted the unusual sea creature on the sands of Redcar beach in North Yorkshire on Saturday and has since attracted significant attention.
Many locals have been left guessing what the unusual skeleton could be, with some suggesting tropical creatures like an iguana, or even the mythical mermaid.
Images snapped by Haz show the long skeletal body stretched out on the sandy beach.
Little appears to be left of the creature’s skin or organs, with the remains being mostly dried bones and scales.
A long tailbone can be seen, curved similarly to the tail of a mermaid, complete with fins at the end.
The skin of the creature appears to have completely decomposed whilst a slim torso attached to the tailbone appears to still be in the process of decomposition.
Frays can be seen hanging out from both sides of the torso and withering as they scale the body up to the head.
The head, however, appears to be a stark contrast to the rest of the body’s “mermaid” appearance, being a flatter-shaped head similar to a fish or lizard.
The vast majority of the head has been covered with sand but a large set of gnarly teeth can be spotted in a wide-open jaw.
Haz shared the images to social media on Saturday in an attempt to identify the mystery creature.
She wrote in a post: “Found on Redcar beach, near the Beacon.”
The post received dozens of likes and comments as many residents were quick to share their own thoughts and guesses on what the creature might be.
Jasmine Bishop suggested: “Mermaid.”
Kipper Tranter joked: “Alien, Sigourney Weaverfish was filming the other day.”
Claire Walton guessed: “Iguana?”
Lee Boville quipped: “I can tell you what it is. It’s dead.”
Mark Fraudstein Jordan suggested: “Dinosaur.”
Despite imagination running amok, the general consensus appears to be that the creature is most likely either a conger eel, or a large hake – a fish similar to a cod or haddock.
Richard Spaven wrote: “I’m going with a hake. I considered ling and conger but as it looks like its bottom jaw protrudes, I think a hake.”
Leepy Lee said: “Conger eel natively from the Mediterranean Sea, most likely went with current of the sea as our sea would have been warmer [as] of late.”
