A fish was recently pictured trying to eat a cigarette bun on the ocean floor.
Steven Kovacs, a photographer, took the picture, which was nominated for the 2021 Ocean Photography Awards.
Stevens said he took a picture and later stepped in to stop the fish from devouring the entire cigarette bun.
He said that it was kind of funny to see a fish enjoying a smoke under the water, however, he also could not resist allowing the creature to choke itself to death.
The image was shared on Instagram first in July this year.
Steven s aid that the fish was confused and had no idea what the cigarette was and tried to devour it thinking that it was food.
The picture that he took on the Palm Beach in Florida, USA is just one of the many pictures that have been nominated for the 2021 Ocean Photography Awards.
The awards highlights the impact of human waste on marine wildlife.
The fish that Steven captured is a a Trachinocephalus myops – more commonly known as a blunt-nose lizardfish which live in the Atlantic Ocean.
These type of fish is usually present on the seabed with only their eyes above the sand.
He shared the picture with the caption:
Quick smoke break. Actually this was almost a very unfortunate situation. This small Snakefish, Trachinocephalus myops, grabbed a cigarette butt out of the water column drifting by in the current thinking it was a fish and began to swallow it for a meal. Even after swallowing more than half of the cigarette, it still hadn’t realized its mistake!! This was one situation I felt obliged to intervene since I can’t imagine it would have ended well for the fish if it finished swallowing its “meal”. Palm Beach, Florida.
The picture does really show that we humans have failed on so many levels.