An underwater snapshot has people calling a Reddit user ‘foolish’ yet incredibly ‘lucky.’
If you were to list creatures you’d prefer not to encounter while swimming in the ocean, you might mention sharks, octopuses, and sea snakes. However, there’s one unsettling animal you might not even recognize that poses a potentially greater threat.
The ‘dangerous’ find
Reddit user u/AArdvarkPaws shared a picture from their trip to the Red Sea in Egypt on the r/animalid thread last month.
The photo showcases a pair of hands submerged underwater, holding what looks like a shell in one hand.
The user noted that the image was ‘taken some time ago’ with a GoPro camera designed for underwater use.
“I thought I discovered a beautiful seashell and considered bringing it home as a keepsake, but I realized it was alive, feeling some weight and movement inside. So, I opted to snap a few pictures instead,” they explained.
They further added: “Only months later did I learn that my handling of it might have been quite a bad choice. Can anyone help me identify what it was and what kind of risk I was truly facing? Was it a potential life-threatening situation?”
The post raises the question: “How fortunate am I to still be here?”
Indeed, it quickly garnered attention on social media, with users emphasizing how incredibly lucky the individual is to be alive considering they were holding not a shell but a textile cone snail.