Every week we show you a close up of one of the objects in the museum. Do you know which plant this flower belongs to?

(Hint: only one herbarium specimen on display has a blue background. It was once a very common sight in Britain)

Object of the week: what is this?

Did you know what last week’s object of the week was?

Well done if you knew you were looking at the nose (or rostrum to call it by the proper name) of a Sawfish. Sawfish are Rays which means they have cartilage rather than bone. They use their incredible saw-like rostrum to detect prey hiding at the bottom of the ocean and then dig it out and kill it.

All Sawfish are critically endangered, often caught as bycatch or for use in folk medicine.