The "mystery specimen'' found in local waters that baffled leading scientists here and overseas has turned out to be squid eggs.

Now dead, the three-foot-long sausage shaped gelatinous mass was found on the surface of the water close to Cooper's Island and brought to the Aquarium for identification.

The spiralling strands, containing thousands of purple spheres, turned out to be "the egg mass of an oceanic squid, probably the rhomboid-diamond backed squid,'' according to Aquarium spokeswoman Lisa Greene.

"It was identified by squid expert, Dr. Clyde Roper of the Smithsonian in Washington DC,'' she announced yesterday. "Dr. Roper says that our specimen gives us more information about the distribution and spawning areas of the rhomboid squid and he was quite interested in obtaining video footage of the developing eggs.'' Despite efforts by Aquarium staff to hatch the eggs, most died. A few did hatch and were released and some were kept as Museum specimens.

According to Ms Greene there has been at least one other squid egg sighting in the Great Sound with several unconfirmed reports in other locations.

Ms Greene also reported that Teddy and Edna Tucker visited the "mystery specimen''.

"We learned from them that they had seen collected and successfully hatched baby squid from eggs before,'' she said.

"Campbell O'Connor, a retired fisherman, reported seeing them years ago in Castle Roads, Castle Harbour.'' she continued.

Ms Greene also sought to encourage the public to bring in unusual finds.

"Our `mystery specimen' is a good example of the value of bringing specimens to the Natural History Museum, so that they can be recorded for science and contribute to our understanding of the natural world around us,'' she said.