An anonymous tourist diving off the coast of Egypt innocently picked up one of the world’s most venomous sea snails – and even took a picture with it. He later uploaded the footage to Reddit, where it went viral with more than 300 comments – some from users horrified by his actions
An anonymous tourist almost died in Egypt after picking up a venomous animal. It happened while on vacation in the Red Sea, when Frank was diving in the water and playing with his GoPro camera. Suddenly, he noticed an interesting shell. Unaware of the danger, he picked it up in his hand, examined it a little and even took a picture of it. A few months later, when he uploaded the footage to Reddit, he discovered how close he had come to disaster.
The seemingly innocent shell turned out to be a Textile Cone Snail, one of the most dangerous sea snails in the world. This creature doesn’t just sit on the seabed – it has a deadly hunting technique. The predator has a set of needles that contain an extremely potent venom, designed to paralyze and kill its prey. Its venom is believed to be strong enough to kill humans, and several deaths are known to have occurred as a result of its bites.
How lucky I am to be still alive? [Red Sea, Egypt]
byu/AArdvarkPaws inanimalid
According to the Aquarium of the Pacific, the venom of the cone snail can cause unbearable pain, paralysis and even death. The venomous cone snails live in shallow water, among coral or burrowing in the sand, and attack mainly when trampled or lifted from the water. In other words, if Frank had been a little less careful and a little more curious – he could have paid a heavy price for it.
He uploaded his photo with the deadly sea snail to the r/animalid forum (designed for animal identification) on Reddit, under the title: “How lucky am I to still be alive?” The post went viral with nearly 5,000 UpVotes (the equivalent of Facebook Likes) and more than 300 comments from users, some of whom were horrified by the documentation.
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