A snake expert has photographed a reptile gasping for breath while trying to eat a fish the size of its own head.

Herpetologist Nicolas Fuento from the League for the Protection of Birds in France thought the reptile was simply trying to eat the fish, but realized that it was struggling in this situation. Information taken from Live Science.

In France, an expert caught a reptile that choked after swallowing a fish the size of its head. Photo: Nicholas Fuento

Scary snake and fish

Fuento hired an intern to hold the reptile while he tried to pull the fish out, but the spines on its back became lodged in the reptile’s esophagus.

So to get it out, Fuento carefully put the fish into the reptile’s mouth to dislodge the spines, as if he were removing a hook from the fish’s mouth. Once freed, the reptile appeared to be unharmed and slid under a rock.