As the world celebrates Jaws’ 40th birthday, Hereford’s own ‘monster from the deep’ has turned up on one man’s doorstep.

It was back in 1975 that cinema-goers were shocked at the classic Spielberg film, and now Matt Greenhouse, from Lower Bullingham, has been ‘presented’ with a creature that looks rather like something from a horror film.

He’s used to his cats bringing home mice, rats and voles, but he considers his latest ‘gift’ to be the “ugliest to date”.

Matt reckons it must have been Arnold, one of his five cats, who brought home the long, slithery beastie with its strange, sucker-like mouth and teeth. He recognised the creature from the River Wye as a rare eel-type lamprey.

“My partner went out to put something in her car and noticed it,” says Matt. “There were no cats near it, they’d moved away and were just staring at it. To be honest, a bit like I did when I realised what it was, as you can see in the picture it has a mouth full of teeth.”

Once extinct, the lamprey, known as nature’s vampire as they attach themselves to the bodies of larger fish, is considered to be a living fossil dating back millions of years. Able to grow to about the size of a man’s arm, they were once a royal delicacy. King Henry I, who was said to have been partial to grilled lamprey, was believed to have died from a surfeit of the dish.

Said Matt: “I’m not much of an angler, but my father had told me about lamprey eels and how they attach themselves to salmon.

“I had not seen one before and have lived at Lower Bullingham near the Wye for about 18 years.”

He continued: “It was very strange finding a lamprey on my doorstep. It looked like one of my cats had eaten its tail.

“As I live quite close to the river, the cats do leave me a surprise now and then but this thing is the ugliest to date.”

The stuff of legend – sea lampreys can grow to about three feet in length - they have a circular mouth with teeth that acts as a suction cap.

Says Matt: “I think seeing this might put kids off swimming in the river.”