This viral picture has Twitter baffled. Can you identify what it shows?

Representational picture

After making its viewers rack their brain to find a cat hidden in a bookshelf a few days ago, Twitter is back with another puzzle! A picture shared by a forest officer on the micro-blogging platform that has baffled the Twitterati.

The picture in question shows what appears like a foot with five toes and black-coloured nails peeping out from beneath a log of wood. The foot has an unusual grayish-blue hue that has got netizens wondering what species does it belong to.

The picture was shared by forest officer Susanta Nanda on Twitter, who threw a challenge for his followers and asked in the captions, "Can you identify this animal?"

Shared on Sunday, the picture garnered more than 1,400 likes and was retweeted 186 times. The users commenting on the post said that they are spooked by its colour and appearance. Some said that it looked like a foot of a mythical creature.

And some thought that the foot belonged to a gorilla, chimpanzee or langoor, that were incorrect answers.

Nanda posted the right answer, identifying the foot in the picture as a fungus known as ‘dead man's fingers. He also shares a link from the website firstnature.com where the plant was biologically identified as Xylaria polymorpha.

Some users were close enough to identify the right answer.

According to the website, the fungus appears throughout the year at the base of wood stumps and buried hardwoods. They arise in tufts in what appears as three to six bent fingers that resemble arthritic knuckles. The fungus is mainly found in Europe and North America.

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