A man thought he saw "an alien" while on a stroll along a popular Edinburgh beach - but it turned out to be a type of worm called a 'sea mouse'.
Mike Arnott, 33, was taking a stroll along Portobello Beach in east of the capital on Monday when the creature caught his eye.
He found a strange green fluorescent object on the sand while the tide was out. The engineer originally thought it was a moss-covered pinecone before realising it was alive.
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He said the idea of it being an alien 'did cross his mind' - because he had no idea what the bright green spiky creature was.
Mike said: "I saw this fluorescent green thing with weird needles - I had no idea what it was. The bright green and gold colours drew me straight to it.
"I flipped it over and saw it had lots of tiny legs - I had never seen anything like it. It being an alien definitely crossed my mind - or I thought it might be something from way out in the deep sea."
Pete Haskell, of the Scottish Wildlife Trust, offered his expertise to help identify the alien-like animal. He said it's a washed up 'sea mouse' - which is confusingly a type of WORM.
Pete said: "It looks a bit strange being out of the water, but it's a type of marine bristle worm that's found all around the UK coast."
The lesser-known creature's iridescent shimmering green and gold bristles make it look unlike any other marine animal.
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