What are mermaid’s purses?
They’re the tough, leathery, brown or black eggcases of sharks, skates or rays.
Each one will have held an embryo that developed into a fully formed shark, skate or ray pup before it wiggled its way out of the eggcase.
Shark, ray or skate egg?
Shark eggcases:
- Longer and narrower
- Curly tendrils at one end
Ray and skate eggcases:
- Fatter and squarer shape
- ‘Horns’ on all four corners.
When & where to look
You can find mermaid’s purses along most of our coast. Great places to look are along the high-tide line on the beach, or among the rocks.
A good time to hunt is after a large winter storm.
Mermaid's Purse © Erin PettiferIdentify and share who laid your mermaid’s purse
Many of the mermaid’s purses you find on the beach will be dried out. It’s much easier to identify a mermaid’s purse when it’s fully hydrated. Then you can see its original size and shape. Soak them in water for an hour or two, or even overnight.
There’s a great app from the Shark Trust that you can use to help you identify and record your finds. Using it to share what you find can help us better understand what’s happening to the populations of sharks, skates and rays in the UK.
Undulate ray ©Peter VerhoogA “ray-rity” thriving in Sussex waters
Globally endangered, the Undulate Ray is doing well off the Sussex coast. This elegant underwater beauty is actually a skate. It can grow up to 90cm in length and live for up to 20 years.
