MYSTERY surrounds a gigantic skeleton found washed up on a Scottish beach during Storm Ciara.

Locals were left baffled after a snap of the rotten carcass was uploaded to an Aberdeen community group earlier this week.

Mystery skeleton washed up on Aberdeenshire beachCredit: Fubar News

And the picture proved popular, racking up hundreds of comments as punters tried to guess what the skeleton was.

Some even suggested that it was Nessie.

The pic was shared on Fubar News yesterday – hours after Storm Ciara battered Scotland with 90mph winds.

The group said: “Came across this weird creature today near Aberdeen. Any ideas what it could be?”.

Some users joked the rotting carcass could be the remains of Scotland’s very own Loch Ness Monster.

Meg Plummer wrote: “Oh me it’s Nessie the Loch Ness monster”.

But Emma –Louise Bolland disagreed that the nation’s favourite folklore monster, adding: “Nessie could not adapt to salt water.”

Dex Stewart meanwhile joked: “Yep it’s a very very rarely seen deep sea Haggis.”

Meanwhile Eddie Thomson was pretty adamant it was a mythical from the highlands, adding: “Heilan Dragon, obviously.”

Scott Forbes, meanwhile, referred to Aberdeen’s abundance of seagulls, posting: “Dead seagull.

“They are getting massive here in the North East. Stay safe folks.”

Joining in the online fun was Mamie Graham, who added: “Salt water crocodile or a tentacle of a giant octopus…well I might as well be as silly as the rest of the writers.’

Matthew Cook posting was convinced it dated back to the pre-historic age, writing:  “At first glance I thought a brontosaurus but looking at the vertebrae in the skeletal structure I’m swayed towards a diplodocus/triceratops.”

Others linked the remains to the Chinese New Year and the Coronavirus, with Jim Ewing posting: “It’s a dead Chinese New Year dragon”

And Finlay Hunter adding: “It’s a bloody dead Cononasaurus.”

Football fan Graeme Morrison made fun of Aberdeen Football Club’s recent efforts on the pitch, writing: “Looks like the Aberdeen FC back bone – hasn’t been seen this year!”

More likely suggestions of the identity of the mysterious North sea creature were also put forward – with folk saying it was a whale, orca or dolphin.

We told you last month how the existence of the Loch Ness monster, ghosts and aliens are the real mysteries the nation’s children would love to have answered.

A poll of 1,000 primary school-aged children revealed ghosts are the number one curiosity, with 32 per cent of youngsters wanting to know whether they exist.