DNA Bid to Identify Mystery Beast
A mysterious sea creature washed up on the shore in Orkney two
centuries ago could be identified by pioneering DNA techniques.
The remains of the creature, dubbed the Stronsay Beast, were found on
Orkney in 1808.
Some have suggested it was a basking shark, but this has been disputed
due to its unusually large size.
Geneticist Yvonne Simpson, who has been studying the remains since
2001, believes newly-recovered bone fragments from the creature may
hold the key to solving the mystery.
Dr Simpson said that due to the well-preserved nature of the
fragments, which were given to her by a private collector earlier this
year, she may be able to extract DNA samples from them. She then hopes
to send the samples to a recently-established laboratory in Florida
which holds a database of shark DNA.
It is hoped that the Orkney creature's DNA can then be matched to a
specific type of shark.
Dr Simpson, who works in Edinburgh but comes from Orkney originally,
said her work fell within the increasingly popular field of
archaeogenetics - the analysis of DNA recovered from archaeological
remains.
She said: "Until these DNA sequences of sharks became available in
America, this would not have been possible.
"The DNA extraction techniques have been available for some time, but
this is forensics being applied in a new way.
"At 55ft long this would be an unusually big basking shark, and it's
far more likely to belong to another member of the shark family."
Channel 4 News: September 2008
