The Marine Conservation Society has issued the following statements regarding the above photograph:

Gill Pearce spotted the creature about 20 metres from the bay at Saltern Cove, near Goodrington. It was observed at about 15.30 on 27 July [2010] but by the time she had got her camera it had moved further out. She spotted it following a shoal of fish which beached themselves in Saltern Cove.

The creature remained in the sea, then went out again and followed the shoal – this indicates it’s not a turtle as they only eat jellyfish. We would love to know if other people have seen anything like this in the same area and can help clear up the mystery.

[Sperm whales] wouldn’t come that close inshore and the reptilian-like head counts that out – at least that’s what the experts are saying!

It was reported as a turtle as it had large front flippers and small back flippers and what appeared to be a shell but was also said to have a small head on a thin neck about two-feet long which craned above the surface like a Plesiosaur.

It’s described as being as long as a sea lion with a long neck which floated at the same height in the water all the time.

This is not a fake.

The problem is the distance and clarity from which the photos were taken.

The lady thought it may have been a turtle – but turtles don’t chase fish

It was reported as a turtle as it had large front flippers and small back flippers and what appeared to be a shell.

But it was also said to have a small head on a thin neck about two feet long, which craned above the surface like a Plesiosaur.

No sea turtles do that with their heads and we do not know of similarly described freshwater turtles that grow so big.

So at the moment it is ‘unidentified’ – the person who reported it has trawled the internet and says the closest ID fit is a giant green sea turtle – but the description of the head doesn’t add up.

Read more here.