Mystery of New Zealand sea creature revealed

A resident of New Zealand had quite a fun time last Tuesday when she came across a mysterious creature on a local beach.

Maria Lombard discovered an unusual skeleton bobbing on the waves at Whitaire Beach.

"There was such a moment that I thought that this was how the dragon should have looked ... only the head and spine," the woman said, writes.

Lombard photographed the strange animal and sent the picture to the Te Papa Tongareva National Museum in the hope that the "dragon" would be identified.

The museum quickly responded via Twitter, writing that the skeleton does not belong to a sea monster, dragon or even eel. Apparently, Lombard photographed only the skull and spine of a smooth stingray, a dorsally-abdominal flattened fish that lives in the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

Smooth stingrays are similar to diamond stingrays, but they lay eggs. Diamond stingrays give birth to offspring alive. Smooth rays, as a rule, have a protruding dorsal fin, which is usually absent or less noticeable in rhombuses.