Confused Fish Swims Inside Jellyfish In Amazing Rare Photo

First Posted: Jun 09, 2016 06:10 AM EDT
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Australian photographer Tim Samuel, who describes himself as an "ocean obsessed lover of photography and adventures" was able to capture a rare photo of a fish peering out into the ocean, looking helpless from inside a jellyfish.

Samuel told CNN that he was snorkeling out to a reef to photograph turtles with his friend and collaborator, Franny Plumridge, in the open water between the shore and a reef, when he came across the fascinating sight.

He said, "There were no other fish in sight. I just stumbled upon it." He also shared that he followed it around for quite some time despite the difficulty focusing on it, considering how small of a subject it was. Yet, he was able to take a few photos which he published on his website, as well as his Instagram account.

In a separate interview with the Huffington Post, Samuel shared that it was interesting for him to see how the fish and the jelly moved through the water. He described the sight, "The fish propelled the jellyfish, but wobbled around and was being thrown off course by the jellyfish, and sometimes was forced to swim in circles."

Scientists from Australian Geographic, whom Samuel contacted, said that they never saw anything like it, either. However, it seems that despite the confused look on its face, the fish may have actually been happy being inside the jelly.

Ian Tibbetts, a marine biologist at the Centre for Marine Science at the University of Queensland suggested that the fish could be a juvenile trevally, a species known to use jellyfish stingers for protection. "It's difficult to tell whether disaster has just struck, or whether the fish is happy to be in there," he said. "Although by the photographer's description of the fish swimming, my guess is that it is probably quite happy to be protected in there"

The jelly, meanwhile may be a cubomedusan, which is from a group of jelly species that included the box jellyfish.

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