A family walking along New Brighton beach were confronted with the remains of a ‘"terrifying sea creature".
Kieron Provost and his family came across the creature during their day out in New Brighton on Saturday, June 19.
The family made the discovery close to the lighthouse and Kieron said it had washed up on the beach and started giving out a strong smell.
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Pictures shared with the ECHO show the lower half of the creature is missing, with it appearing dried out on the sand.
Speaking to the ECHO, Kieron, 46 from Netherley, said: “We spotted it close to the lighthouse. The poor thing looked like it had been hit by a propeller. The kids ran away because it smelt so bad.
The 46-year-old who was out walking with his fiancé, Amy, and daughters, Laci, Mollie and Amelia, added: “I hadn’t seen anything like it before so I googled it and I think it was a small dolphin harbour porpoise.
“It was about 3ft with its back end missing.”
Another passerby said: “Unfortunately the poor thing was just lying there on the beach. Close up it looked quite scary with its teeth showing. I think it was a porpoise but it looked terrifying.
“It was pretty gruesome close up as its bottom half was missing. It didn’t look great.”
Harbour porpoises are common around the UK and count for half of all sightings of porpoises.
It is one of seven species of porpoise and it is one of the smallest marine mammals.
