Washed-up remnants of a denizen of the deep have created a maritime mystery in Angus.
Arbroath man Gary Boyd’s border terrier Oliver picked up the skull of a fearsome looking fish on one of their regular walks along the seafront.
Offshore worker Gary (27) thought the curious pooch had perhaps sniffed out the remains of a shellfish, but got a bit of a shock when he saw rows of needle sharp teeth in the jaws of the skeleton.
”Oliver’s always picking up things on the beach and when he dropped it I thought: ‘What is that?” said Gary. ”It’s a really weird looking thing, with very sharp teeth.”
He quizzed a number of local fishermen who were left scratching the heads at what the remains might be, but after taking the evidence of his fishy story to the science department at Arbroath High, where he was a pupil, has now been put in touch with Dundee University experts in the hope they might be able to identify the skeleton.
”It’s a pity it hadn’t been the remains of a whole fish, and I’ve no idea whether it’s a fully grown specimen or not, but it’s certainly a scary looking thing you wouldn’t want it to get a hold of you with teeth like that,” added Gary.
Last night, however, it looked like Gary might be closer to confirming the identity of the find after a harbour-side hint that the creature could be a hake.
Online images of the species seemed to bear a close resemblance to the remains picked up by Oliver, meaning the Angus find might be related to the phycidae family which includes cod and haddock.
The deep water predatorhas an average weight of up to around eight pounds, but they can stretch to 60lbs and a metre long in their 15-year lifespan.
Gary added: ”Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this. I actually had hake as a starter in a restaurant recently, but I didn’t realise it came from a fish that looked anything like as scary as this.”