A jellyfish which looks like Captain Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean has been found on a South Ayrshire beach.

The photograph has been described as "an instant nightmare" by social media users thanks to its long, flappy tentacles.

The scary animal was swept to the shore of the Firth of the Clyde near the village of Dunure.

It was taken by photographer Jamie Glenday, 52, from Newmilns, East Ayrshire.

Members of the popular Facebook group 'Scotland by the Roadside' have compared the jellyfish's appearance to Predator or the Ood from Doctor Who.

Others said it looks more like Captain Davy Jones from the Pirates of the Caribbean films.

And it has also been compared to the demonic H.P. Lovecraft creation Cthulhu.

Jamie, who runs a website dedicated to capturing Scottish nature at its finest, admitted he just had to take a picture of the monster.

He said: "I normally do landscape and scenery photography but when you encounter a monster, and this was the biggest of them all, then you have to take a picture.

"To me, the jellyfish looks a lot like Predator because of the way its mouth is sitting.

"You've got to be careful when walking across that shore as you'll often see a wash of thousands of jellyfish swept up.

"It's funny, I took the picture a couple of years ago now but whenever I repost it there's always a debate over what monster it looks the most like."