A video going viral on Twitter appears to show a fish swallowing an eel, but viewers are convinced that there is something fishy about the whole thing. The footage in question was shared on the microblogging platform yesterday by Indian Forest Service officer Susanta Nanda, who did not provide any context to it, simply writing: "If you haven't seen this."
In the bizarre clip, the fish - which some identified as a carp - appears to raise its head out of water and exhale smoke. Then it continues to rise out of water and seemingly swallows an eel.
The video has been viewed more than 1.5 lakh times on Twitter. Hundreds of people flocked to the comments section to ask Mr Nanda where he found the clip and what it portrayed.
"Please send some link for full video. The video needs lots of explanation also for a layman like me," requested one Twitter user.
"What? How did it bring out smoke?? Never seen anything like it!" another exclaimed.
Mr Nanda took to the microblogging platform this morning to share part two of the clip and revealed that he had received it as a forward over WhatsApp.
In this part, the fish regurgitates the eel after swallowing in whole.
"Yesterday I had posted a part of this video. Here is what happened thereafter..." wrote Mr Nanda. "It was the case of a big fish hunting eel. In the end, the fish couldn't eat it completely as the eel was long enough and managed to came out through the big mouth," he explained.
However, many on the platform did not buy his explanation and called the video "fake".
Twitter users pointed out that the movements of the fish appeared unnatural and said that it was likely being controlled by someone.
"It's a fake video. I am surprised that someone like Mr Susanta fell for it," a Twitter user wrote.
"No one seems to have figured out that it's staged, like many of those "fishing" videos from Southeast Asia. A person is manipulating both fishes outside the frame and at the missing frame. Sad," a viewer remarked
"This is one of many fake videos over YouTube. Look at the movement of fish...both un-natural and probably dead. People shoot such videos to gain views and earn money," another said.
A commenter also posted a link to the original YouTube video, which has been viewed over 27 million times on the video streaming platform.
The video was uploaded to a channel called "FISHERMAN ANIMAL LOVER" in August 2019. Other videos on the channel seem to support claims that the fish swallowing eel video is staged. Some of the other videos shared by this YouTube channel include a clip of a fish emerging from the ground and another fish 'swallowing' eggs.
In all these videos, the fish appear lifeless with wide, unblinking eyes.
"I apologize to you, some videos may not be consistent with reality. That is, it can be imaginary," the channel wrote in the descriptor of one such video.
Do you think the fish swallowing an eel video is real or fake? Let us know using the comments section.
