A fish shop owner in China was left red-faced after he received an order for two fish but the larger one ate the smaller one just before he was going to set out to deliver them.

The incident took place in the city of Huizhou, which is located in south-east China’s coastal province of Guangdong, near Hong Kong when the fish shop owner lost out on a delivery after the larger fish that he was supposed to deliver ate the smaller fish, which can be seen wriggling around inside its stomach in this footage.

The owner, who has not been named, said that he had received an order online for two ornamental fish, with the larger fish costing RMB 100 (GBP 11.54) and the smaller fish costing RMB 80 (GBP 9.23).

The owner said that he put the two fish in the same container and just before he was about to head out and deliver them to the customer, he looked inside and could no longer see the smaller fish.

After looking around, he grabbed the larger fish and turned it over and spotted the smaller fish struggling desperately inside the stomach of the larger fish.

As can be seen in the footage, the smaller fish can be seen flipping around inside the stomach of the larger fish, which the shop owner can be seen holding up to a camera.

The owner had no choice but to replace the smaller fish with a new fish. It is currently unclear exactly what species of fish the two specimens belonged to.