08 March 2023 , 15:17
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A ghostly-looking creature with hands that look like scissors has been found lurking in a cave and snacking on a dead frog as it holds it firmly in its grip.
The creepy scene shows the frog caught in the pincers of the cave dweller, leading to it being dubbed "scissor hands".
And the creature, which was spotted in Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky, US, last week, has been named as a cave-dwelling crayfish.
It is a rare species of crayfish, milky white and slightly translucent in colour.
An employee at the park said that frogs wouldn't normally go into caves but heavy rain can lead to small animals being washed into them.
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A crayfish pictured a Mammoth Cave National Park (NPS/Anya Gupta)"Nature so cray. Your eyes do not deceive you, folks. That ghostly creature with the scissors for hands is a cave-dwelling crayfish feasting on a frog that has... croaked," said the park worker.
"While frogs are commonly found near cave entrances and occasionally near larger cave streams, they don't frequent the same areas as cave-dwelling crayfish.
"Periods of heavy rain can wash surface dwellers like frogs, rats, and other small animals into cave systems where they, unfortunately, perish due to lack of food, inability to return to their normal habitat, or an unfortunate encounter with scissor hands."
Many people took to social media to comment on the creepy encounter.
Heath Cazeau said: "Scissorhands? I hereby name this crayfish Edward."
"New fear was just permanently unlocked," said Desi Bannister.
Mammoth Cave is the longest known system of underground passageways in the world (Getty Images/Gallo Images)Trinity Nguyen said: "Imagine being a blind crayfish underground... waiting for a big rain to get a snack to eat... amazing how they survive!"
Not everyone was left feeling fearful of the crayfish with one person on Facebook saying how "beautiful" it was.
"Very beautiful they spoke about this cave dwelling Cray fish when we were there a few months ago, we did not get a chance to see one but wow what a beauty," said Bruce Lane.
The Mammoth Park website stated how crayfish take advantage of flooding to eat dead creatures.
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It said: "In the lowest parts of cave streams, near spring outlets along the Green River, there are times when water from the river back-floods into the cave.
"When that happens, all manner of things can get washed into the cave, including fish living in surface streams. Surface fish that do not get washed back out, perish in the cave and sink to the bottom where they can be eaten by crayfish.
"The back-flooding into low level cave streams provides nutrients as well, and cave-dwelling bats benefit from insects that gather in the river passages. These river passages provide bats with a food source and water to drink. This is especially important for lactating bats with pups back at the roost."