A severed gorilla arm has washed up a beach giving beachgoers a rude shock and sparking an investigation into where it came from.

A photo has shown the several arm of a gorilla which washed up on a beach in Ireland, with stunned discoverers first believing it was human.

According to Daily Mail UK, the skeleton limb was found on a beach in Kilkee, County Clare, last week, by a member of the public.

Analysis found that the limb was from an animal, and it was soon determined to be a large primate.

It is most likely that the arm comes from a gorilla, although local news reported possible other options, such as a chimpanzee.

Local authorities are now embarking on trying to unravel the mystery of where the several gorilla skeleton arm may have come from.

'From Kilkee side out, I think the next land you meet from there is America so I don't know, I really haven't a clue,' Clare County Council dog warden Frankie Coote told RTE.

'We're used to getting calls where farm animals wash up or a dog, a seal or anything like that, but this is an unusual one.

'It'd be nice to get to the bottom of it and know exactly what it is and where it may have come from.'

Mr Coote has been taking care of the arm after it was released by Gardai. After police determined that the remains were not human, the handed it back to the council.

Mr Coote says he is currently storing the gorilla arm in his freezer.

Clare County Council has made an appeal for information as to where the gorilla limb may have originated from.