What is this mysterious sea creature washed up on a UK beach?

A very strange-looking sea creature with hairy spikes on its back has washed up on Crosby beach in Liverpool - leaving locals somewhat perplexed.

The marine creatures was spotted by a beachgoer who shared the image with Sefton Council, which was also none the wiser about what it is.

See also: Argh, what is it? Creepy creature filmed in Indonesia

See also: Fisherman finds 'alien' sea creature with 100 tentacles

In fact, Sefton Council took to Twitter to ask followers their thoughts on what the creature could be.

They wrote: "This interesting creature was spotted on #Crosby beach today! But can any marine biologists tell us what it is? #MySefton #BluePlanet2."

The creature appeared to have yellow, green and pink flecks amid the black spiky hairs on its back.

According to the Liverpool Echo, one person replied to say they thought it was an Aphrodita aculeata, or sea mouse.

According to Wikipedia, a sea mouse is a marine polychaete worm found in the North Atlantic, the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean.

Adults generally fall within a size range of 10 to 20 centimetres, and they primarily on small crabs, hermit crabs and other polychaete worms. It has been observed consuming other polychaete worms over three times its own body length. Ewww.

It normally lies buried head-first in the sand and has been found at depths of over 3,000 metres (9,800 ft).

There were, of course, plenty of joke replies to the council's tweet, too.

One person wrote: "It's Hagi Scotia, the Scottish Haggis, looks like an unfortunate escapee. Sad..."

Another laughed: "Looks like Trump's spare toupee."

And one man actually proclaimed the sea mouse as his 'favourite' writing: "It's my favourite polychaete! (It's not weird to have a favourite polychaete, is it?!)."

Umm...