A Redditor posted on the platform to ask about the identity of a massive, unknown creature that swims beneath someone in a body of water.
Posting in the r/WhatIsIt subreddit, the user shared a video of the mysterious animal, which terrified a swimmer as it passed under them.
(Click here to watch the video if the embed does not appear)
"It looks huge, but didn't bite her even when she started kicking and splashing," the poster said, "I have no idea."
Commenters were quick to take guesses at what the mystery creature could be. Some speculated it could be a dugong, a large marine mammal similar to a manatee that lives in the coastal waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Gentle, slow-moving, and herbivorous, they're a threatened species that tends to have calm, friendly interactions with humans during rare encounters.
Others thought it was likely a pink river dolphin, somewhere in the Amazon.
River dolphins can be an unnerving sight; they have a much longer beak than their oceanic relatives, with faint pink and lighter brown or grey coloring that helps them to blend into the murky waters of the Amazon and Orinoco River basins where they live. They can grow to 350 to 400 pounds and up to 9 feet long, so the size certainly fits, and they also tend to be curious about humans in their space.
While the encounter was clearly scary for the person in the water, it also illustrates how humans continue to impact and interact with wildlife through our tourism and presence in their habitats. While the swimmer did the right thing by removing herself from the water and not engaging with the mystery creatures, it also shows that many animals will investigate our presence in their space, and it's up to us to handle those interactions respectfully.
Commenters joked about how frightening the encounter must have been.
"I would be running on top of water," one said.
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"This is one of my weird phobias," said another, "I'm a grown a** man but if seaweed touches my leg I'm cooked."
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