Rare specimens washed up on Angus beaches

Angus and the Mearns has witnessed many a rare specimen wash up on its shores in recent years.

A critically endangered giant of the deep washed up dead at St Cyrus in 2016 after being swept miles from home by storms.

The behemoth leatherback turtle was 5ft-long and twice the size of a baby elephant and marine experts put the stranding down to the wild weather.

In 2014 samples taken from an Arctic beluga whale that washed up at Lunan Bay near Montrose helped fill a 200year gap for Scotland’s national museums.

DNA evidence was taken from the mammal, along with its skull and teeth.

The whale was only the second beluga specimen received by National Museums Scotland (NMS) following a Firth of Forth stranding dating all the way back to 1815.

Comparison with the skull already in the NMS collection helped confirm the identity of the decomposed whale as a beluga, a rare visitor to Scottish waters.

In September 2012, a 40ft sei whale washed up on the beach at Elliot, close to Arbroath golf course.

Investigation of on-site post-mortem samples taken by experts confirmed the animal was suffering from parasitic gastroenteritis, which probably left it unable to feed properly and caused the debilitated state that led to its stranding.