A man who tried to woo a date with his pet goldfish was gobsmacked when he realised his trusty aquatic wingman was being hauled out of the pond by a massive spider.
Jérémy Schalkwijk managed to capture the surreal moment on camera, with the photograph showing the giant nursery web spider with Cleo the goldfish (named after Geppetto's pet in Pinocchio) dangling from its mouth, dragging it out of the water and up the wall.
Tour guide Jérémy had taken his date, Athina Yalias, to see the fish - because why not? - in his pond in Barberton, South Africa.
But when they got to Cleo, who had lived with him for 18 months, he claims he saw the arachnid lowering itself into the pond while clinging on to the edge, before hauling its pray up with its fangs and front legs.
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Jérémy, 33, said: "It was a crazy, crazy sight. You don't see that every day.
"I couldn't believe that a spider would be able to carry something twice its weight like that.
"I've never seen something like that before. I knew [the spiders] could fish, but never such a large size.
"You see it sometimes with small fish like fingerlings, but never with a goldfish. This was twice the weight of the spider."
So stunned at the sight of a spider managing to yank a sizeable goldfish up out of the water, Jérémy decided to take a quick snap to show Athina, before the pair went back outside to see what the eight-legged creature planned to do next.
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However, once they returned to the pond, the spider and its prey were 'nowhere to be found'.
Jérémy continued: "I spotted this on the second date I had with Athina.
"She couldn't believe it. She is not a real bush woman so she doesn't have much experience with animals, but she was so impressed.
"When we came back [out] both animals were nowhere to be found.
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"We have a pond with goldfish and I just wanted to show her the fish, then I saw this.
"I could see the spider catching the fish and it had taken it out of the water.
"The spider can fish if there's grass or a branch above the water, but this was a vertical concrete pond.
"I tried to take the picture of the spider above the water so you can see it's vertical. It would be difficult."
Featured Image Credit: Kennedy NewsTopics: World News, News, Dating, Animals