Photographer Captures Amazing Shot of Live Fish Trapped Inside a Jellyfish

Australian photographer Tim Samuel was snorkeling off Pass Beach in Australia’s Byron Bay, hoping to photograph turtles swimming in open water. What he captured instead were these once-in-a-lifetime shots of a hapless fish trapped inside a jellyfish.

Samuel, who describes himself as an “ocean-obsessed lover of photography and adventure” says he followed the unusual duo for 20 or 30 minutes, making several images which he later posted to his website and Instagram feed.

As he told CNN via telephone, the prisioner seemed to be struggling a bit. “It was a tough decision, I definitely thought about setting it free, but in the end I decided to just nature take its course.”

Ian Tibbetts, a marine biologist at Australia’s Center for Marine Biology at the University of Queensland, suggested the fish was a juvenile trevally—known for using jellyfish stingers for protection. “It’s difficult to tell whether disaster has just struck, or whether the fish is happy to be in there,” Tibbett added.

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