Anglers Make Startling Discovery in Fish Mouth

A pair of Australian fishermen got a shocker in the Northern Territory recently when the cod they pulled out of the water had a snake in its mouth. 

They don’t seem to realize it at the time, based on the Youtube video that has since gone viral, but the snake was apparently a small spotted black snake, one of the country’s most venomous. 

“Pull it out,” one of the fisherman says. 

“No way.”

The one man holding the fish reaches for a plier and pulls out the lure and then the half-eaten snake, which he throws back into the water. 

“He’s just eaten it, isn’t it incredible,” one said.

“He hasn’t even swallowed it… he’s still going for a feed.”

Although many are surprised by this, a fish eating a snake is actually nothing new. Fish eat just about anything that moves including frogs and lizards if they can get them.

A quick internet search shows scores of videos documenting the habit of fish eating snakes, mostly among bass. There’s a woman who caught a bass with a live snake in it’s mouth, to a guy who lures a fish to jump out of the water after a snake, to the young man who feeds a small snake to bass in an aquarium.

There is even a thread on the subject at the Texas Fishing Forum. All to confirm the fact that, yes, fish do eat snakes. 

Photo credit: Texas Fishing Forum