No biggie, just a fish trapped inside a jellyfish

Yesterday (June 8th) was World Oceans Day, a day dedicated to the celebrating the oceans and preserving their future. There are already so many reasons why we should appreciate the great seas of the planet. We're sure that you can think of a few reasons why. But we just found another: these two.

(Tim Samuel)

Nope, you're not seeing things. That's a fish stuck almost entirely inside the body of a jellyfish. The only thing sticking out? The fish's tail fin, which allows it to continue to swim along. Although since its dorsal and pectoral fins are not exposed, it has very little control over the direction in which it swims, often going in circles. The pictures were taken by an Australian nature photographer, Tim Samuel. He claims to be "ocean-obsessed", though neither he nor any other expert that he has contacted have seen anything like this before.

I'm alright, folks!

Let's face it. There are few things that seem more nightmarish than to be fully trapped inside the body of another creature. But according to some experts, for the time being, the fish may not be that distressed. (At least the jellyfish is see-through!) Associate Professor Ian Tibbetts, from the Center for Marine Science at the University of Queensland, believes that the fish may be a juvenile trevally (a common tropical ocean fish species). He noted that these young fish often hid among jellyfish for protection from predators. It just appears that this fellow took things one step further than usual. Though strange behaviour, Tibbetts noted that "by the photographer's description of the fish swimming, my guess is that it is probably quite happy to be protected in there."

So Happy Belated World Oceans Day, everyone! Here's to keeping our oceans healthy and strong... and wonderfully weird.