A Christchurch resident has been left befuddled by a mysterious sea creature washed up on a Canterbury beach.
Her first thought was that it was an alien.
Photos of the bizarre creature show a skeleton with claws on its wings, two long legs, a long tail and long head and sharp fangs in its mouth.
Last Saturday, Hanna Mary and her mother were walking along Rakaia Huts collecting rubbish on the beach after a big storm had passed. It was then she came across the bizarre-looking creature.
"First I thought it was a plastic sheeting. I pulled it out from underneath the sticks and it was a bit more than just a piece of plastic."
Her mother, who was further down the beach at the time Mary found the strange creature, came rushing over when she heard her daughter scream.
"She [her mother] found an interesting piece of wood, she picked it up and at the time she yelled out 'omg' and I picked up the critter and I screamed louder than she did.
"She dropped whatever she was holding and came running to me."
"My first thought was that it was something alien, but I was more fascinated than anything."
Initially, they didn't want to touch it in case it was poisonous, but Mary's curiosity gave her enough courage to take it home.
"That why I thought I should reach out and see if anyone else knew what it is."
After the taxidermist had no idea what it was, she turned to her family on Facebook.
"I uploaded the photos on Facebook and we were all taking guesses, most people said skate.
"Every time we tried to match it with the guesses it just didn't line up."
"My guess it that it's some sort of deep-sea skate, maybe a Bathyraja abyssicola, that might have been picked up by a trawler.
"I'm hoping that I have the winning guess."
Mary explained it was bizarre that it showed up at Rakaia Huts as the beach is very rocky and has quite a big drop off to the shore, making it impossible to swim there.
The New Zealand Herald is tracking down an expert to see if they can identify the creature.
