A man thought he saw "an alien" while on a stroll along a Scottish beach - but it turned out to be a type of worm called a 'sea mouse'. Mike Arnott, 33, was taking a stroll along his local beach, Portobello Beach, Edinburgh, yesterday when the creature caught his eye. He found a strange green fluorescent object on the sand while the tide was out. The engineer originally thought it was a moss-covered pinecone before realising it was alive. He said the idea of it being an alien 'did cross his mind' - because he had no idea what the bright green spiky creature was. Mike said: "I saw this fluorescent green thing with weird needles - I had no idea what it was. "The bright green and gold colours drew me straight to it. "I flipped it over and saw it had lots of tiny legs - I had never seen anything like it. "It being an alien definitely crossed my mind - or I thought it might be something from way out in the deep sea." Pete Haskell, of the Scottish Wildlife Trust, offered his expertise to help identify the alien-like animal. He said it's a washed up 'sea mouse' - which is confusingly a type of WORM. Pete said: "It looks a bit strange being out of the water, but it’s a type of marine bristle worm that’s found all around the UK coast.” The lesser-known creature's iridescent shimmering green and gold bristles make it look unlike any other marine animal.