A family were shocked to find one of the world's most venomous sea creatures in the most unlikely of places: their fish tank.
Wesley Trevors, 32, spotted the deadly cone snail - a species known to have killed 30 people worldwide - hanging out at the bottom of his aquarium
After the dangerous discovery at the home he shares with his wife and six-year-old son, Trevors took a photo of it and posted it in a marine life forum.
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People identified it as a cone snail, but after approaching zoos and sea life centres to take it away, Trevors said many refused to do so.
The communications worker told The Sun: "It's also known as a cigarette snail because it takes the time you'd smoke one for you to die if it stung you.
"My son loves Disney so we got a clownfish in there like the main character from Finding Nemo.
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"I saw this tiny little shell I didn't recognise. I took a picture of it and sent it to a marine life forum and they told it me it was a cone snail."
Eventually, Trevors found someone to take it away and expert handlers transferred the juvenile snail to London Sea Life Centre.
Trevors, who is from Slough in Berkshire, added: "The last thing I put in a couple of months ago was a shrimp, so maybe it was hiding somewhere on that."
Cone snails are typically found in tropical seas, but some have managed to adapt to milder waters - such as those in the Mediterranean.
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National Geographic says that while cone snails look harmless, 'appearances can be deceiving'.
An informative video explains: "Four tubes jut out from its shell. The long one at the top is a siphon, which it uses to inhale water and detect prey.
"Its smaller ones on either side are its eye stalks, and in the middle, a deadly proboscis.
"Concealed within the tip is a lethal weapon. A harpoon loaded with a neuro-toxic mix so complex there is no anti-venom to thwart it.
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"It's armed with at least a hundred different toxins - more than any other creature."
It adds: "When some cone snails go hunting, they like to burrow into the sand and wait.
"When a meal happens by, the cone snail fires its harpoon. The poisons quickly paralyse the fish.
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"Once its prey is helpless, the cone snail retracts it through its proboscis until it engulfs the fish, swallowing it whole."
Featured Image Credit: The Sun/News Licensing