Mystery sea creature pictured off the coast of Gwynedd beach

The sighting of the unidentified sea creature has left local community members divided. Credit: Media Wales

A mystery sea creature has been spotted just off the coast of Criccieth Bay.

Photographer David Silcock captured what he believed was an 'orca' in waters not far from the shallows of the Gwynedd beach on Friday (July 22).

After David posted the pictures on a local community Facebook page, Criccieth Life, users were divided over whether it was an orca - also known as a killer whale - a dolphin or seal.

Photographer David Silcock was wandering near Criccieth Bay when he spotted the creature Credit: Media Wales

The Victorian seaside town of Criccieth is popular with tourists for its beaches and views of the Snowdonia Mountains.Sea Watch Foundation have said that based on the image they believe it was either a bottlenose dolphin or Risso's dolphin.

When asked about his sighting, Mr Silcock said: "It was definitely bigger than a dolphin but I was that busy trying to judge when and where it would surface and so I didn't take as good a look as I could.

"It just moved diving and resurfacing from Black Rock and went past the castle, I've previously seen dolphins and either last year or the year before I saw what I thought were three or four dolphins, these were later confirmed as bottlenose whales."

Mr Silcock's experience is the latest in a series of recent sea creature sightings in and around Welsh waters.

A basking shark thought to be at least 12 foot long was spotted in waist-deep water in west Wales earlier this month.

Days after that sighting, spectators on a boat trip were treated to a rare sighting of a thresher shark leaping out of the water in Cardigan Bay.