Seagulls 'eyed' dog walker after she found creature on the beach

A "gorgeous brightly coloured creature" was found washed up on the beach this morning.

Sue Titchmarsh made the discovery when she was out with her dogs on Moreton Beach in Wirral.

Sue said: "I was walking my two dogs when I noticed one was sniffing something." The shimmering beauty of the snake-like creature caught her eye, and she stopped to examine it.

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She said: "I was hoping it was still alive, but when I picked it up, I realised it was dead. Two seagulls were eyeing me at the time."

Curious to know precisely what kind of animal it was, she took a photograph and posted it on Facebook. One commenter suggested it was a 'silver eel', while another made the case for 'Common or European Eel (Anguilla Anguilla)'.

The general consensus, however, was that it was a conger eel.

According to the British Sea Fishing website, "Conger eels are mostly found around the western coast of the British Isles, but can be elsewhere in Britain, including along the eastern coast, but in much smaller numbers.

"Larger conger eels are always female, with males reaching a maximum of around 35lb. The very biggest conger eel live out at sea in deep water, where they often live in wrecks and are targeted by boat anglers. A specimen weighing 350lb was reportedly caught by a trawler near the island of Vestmannaeyjar off the south coast of Iceland. In May 2015 a 7ft long conger eel was caught in the nets of a trawler off the coast of Devon and weighed 133lb after being gutted."

Sue, a keen walker and wildlife lover, is saddened by the amount of dead wildlife she comes across on her walks in Wirral.

She said: "Sadly when walking our local beaches I often come across dead wildlife. It was only a couple of weeks ago I found a dead dolphin on the beach near The Harvester pub in Wallasey."

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