In murky ponds, as in life, there is always a bigger fish angling for a chance to steal your hard-earned bounty.

In this case, the bigger fish was a mega-mouthed bass, and getting out of the way of its giant gulp was all this poor turtle could do.

The close shave was caught on camera by a fisherman near Houston, Texas after the turtle swam over to sample a bit his gizzard shad.

"The bass was easily seven or eight pounds; it dwarfed the turtle," the fisherman tells The Telegraph.

Fortunately for the reptile, retreat manoeuvres were as simple as tucking its head back into its shell. "It swam away fine ... and crawled back up the pond bank to escape."

Better luck next time, buddy.

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Top header image: arbyreed, Flickr