An Oklahoma fisherman made headlines when he caught an enormous, 100-pound alligator snapping turtle last Sunday.
The prehistoric-looking, alligator snapping turtle is the largest freshwater turtle by weight in the world, Grind TV reported.
Dave Harrell, from Edmond, was looking for catfish while fishing in Mill Creek at Eufala Lake when he hooked the turtle instead. His friend Audey Clark managed to haul the turtle into the boat, allowing Harrell to take pictures with his unexpected catch.
Harrell sent the photo to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. Though the alligator snapping turtle is often found in Oklahoma's waters, they are rarer than the more common snapping turtle, wildlife experts told Tulsa World.
Alligator snapping turtles can reach up to 175 pounds in weight and can live up to 200 years. The turtles, which can be deadly, get their name from the alligator-like keels on their shells.
"As a general rule, they're not dangerous if you avoid them, and they will avoid you as well," Michael Bergin, from the ODWC, told Grind TV. "If you do go to messing with one or if maybe you get too close to one and you don't see it and it does decide to bite you, it can be very dangerous."
The turtle's power lies in its jaw, Bergin said.
"You hear stories of people getting their finger nearly bit off by a turtle and that's not an exaggeration."
Though the turtles can live for hundreds of years, they live only around 70 years when in captivity. Once done with the pictures Harrell released the turtle, which is a protected species, back into the water unharmed, Grind TV reported.
But Bergin said it was risky for Harrell to have held the turtle in the first place.
"I would certainly never advise anyone to handle the turtle as that guy did. He had it in a way that wasn't going to get him, but most people aren't going to be able to [handle] a turtle like that," Bergin told Grind TV.
