“Priceless 80m year old fossilised haddock discovered by pensioner 15 years after he picked it up from the beach”
“Staring balefully out over the garden pond, it was one of the more unusual items in Peter Parvin’s rockery.
“The stone shaped like a fish head lay among the retired policeman’s display of pottery and shells for more than 15 years after he picked it up on a beach.
“Then one night in the pub, he mentioned it to a volunteer from the local museum.
“And investigations proved that the rock was in fact a fossilised 80million-year-old haddock.
“‘I have never seen one of these before,’ said Dr Ed Jarzembowski, keeper of natural history at the museum in Maidstone, Kent. ‘Quite simply, it’s priceless.’
“The haddock is to be sent to Poland for analysis by scholars, after which 74-year-old Mr Parvin is considering donating it to the museum…
“Unlike most fossils found from that period, the fish head is encased in flint rather than chalk which makes it particularly rare and valuable…”