Strange tentacles washed up on an Aberdeenshire beach, leaving conservationists baffled - until the sea monster 's true identity was revealed. A member of the public discovered the arms, complete with rows of fearsome suckers, at Forvie National Nature Reserve near Collieston on Sunday and alerted staff. Reserve workers later recovered sections of the remains after the next high tide.

Photographs and measurements taken at the scene quickly ruled out any of Scotland's native coastal octopus species. Early speculation considered whether the remains might belong to a large squid, including the possibility of an Architeuthis ( giant squid ) – a species with a few historic records in Aberdeenshire, including Newburgh in 1998. However, the absence of the characteristic "toothed" suckers

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