Fish Accidently Gets Trapped Inside A Jellyfish And Takes Control

Tim Samuel, a marine photographer, is currently enjoying a series of viral photos that he managed to snap when snorkeling at Byron Bay. The photos in question are of an unlucky fish that has somehow managed to get trapped inside a rather small jellyfish. By the looks of it, and by pure chance, it looks as confused as anyone would be trying to come up with a solution for the predicament. There is no telling how the fish, supposedly a juvenile, managed to get inside the jellyfish or why it can’t find its way out again.

The photos were taken sometime last year but when Tim posted them on Instagram they slowly started to gain traction. Now in full viral mode, the photos are capturing global media attention and people are as mesmerized by the pictures as we are.

The funny thing is that the fish actually took control of the jellyfish telling it where to go. Tim said: “He was trapped in there, but controlled where the jellyfish was moving.” Sometimes the jellyfish would disagree with the direction chosen by the fish and the collaborative swimming resulted in them swimming in circles.

The images went viral when Instagram account DiscoverOcean shared Tim’s incredible photos. According to Tim himself, his phone instantly went crazy and hasn’t stopped since.

On Reddit, some users asked whether the fish could survive inside the jellyfish to which Tim replied: “It was a difficult decision though, I did think about freeing him.” There is no telling what happened with the fish after he left it to its destiny. However, Tim decided on letting nature have it course.

The photos have since amassed around 15,000 likes on Tim’s Instagram account and it is highly likely that they will receive a bunch more now when so many media outlets are retelling the awesome story.

I am still curious what happened to the little fella. Perhaps he is still swimming around inside the jellyfish, collaboratively going on epic adventures together. It’s clear however that the fish didn’t possess the same agility as the viral octopus that squeezed itself into a bottle a few years back. It’s a nice thought that I think I will stick with.

Fish Trapped Inside Jellyfish Takes Control

@franny.plumridge and I were starting to think we were the only ones to witness anything like my Fish Trapped in a Jellyfish photo. That was until this afternoon when I received a very exciting email “I too have witnessed this rare phenomenon. I captured it on video while snorkeling at Double Reef beach in Guam in 2013. Over the course of several minutes I watched the fish exit the Jellyfish, swim back inside the Jellyfish, and apparently steer the Jellyfish at will, and repeat. I researched the unusual behavior when I first encountered it, however could not find anything on the internet to explain the behavior. Perhaps others will communicate their experiences and a collaborative understanding of this behavior will immerge” – words and video from Brent Collins

Ett filmklipp publicerat av Tim Samuel (@timsamuelphotography) Jun 8, 2016 kl. 12:24 PDT