SHOCKING photos show the moment a trapped dolphin vomits in fear as it is captured by Japanese fishermen.

The creature, which appears to be a small juvenile, writhes violently as it is among the hundreds caught in this year's hunting season.

9 Dolphin vomited in fear as it was captured in shocking pictures taken by a witness Credit: Exclusivepix Media

9 Fishermen wrestle with the trapped creature in Taiji, Japan Credit: Exclusivepix Media

9 Japanese fishermen hunt dolphins that travel in huge pods near the coast between September and March Credit: Exclusivepix Media

9 Dolphins are captured to be sold on to marine parks or slaughtered for their meat Credit: Exclusivepix Media

9 Scared creature writhes in fear as it is trapped by hunters Credit: Exclusivepix Media

Taken by a conservationist, the snaps show goggled fishermen brutally wrestling with the mammal.

It is tradition for hunters in Taiji, Japan to trap dolphins travelling in a huge superpod close to the coast between September and March.

The sickening process was laid bare in a 2009 Oscar-winning documentary The Cove, which showed dolphins being slaughtered with knives and spears for their meat.

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9 Wild dolphins are easily confused by nets Credit: Exclusivepix Media

9 Hunters struggle to control the dolphin Credit: Exclusivepix Media

9 Japanese fishermen hunt wild dolphins to sell on to marine parks or slaughter Credit: Exclusivepix Media

9 Fishermen try to hoist the dolphin into a net Credit: Exclusivepix Media

Many are also heavily drugged before being sold and shipped in small coffin-like containers to marine parks all over the world.

Liz Cater, who took the photographs, said: "This was not the only dolphin captured to be vomiting from the stress".

She explained that the wild creatures are easily penned in because they are not used to seeing nets.

"The dolphins don't jump over the nets because they are foreign to them. They don't know whats on the other side, and being wild, have never encountered them before."

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