Excessive alcohol consumption is encapsulated by the saying to 'drink like a fish'.

Yet it comes as a massive surprise that this thirsty river creature was more than happy to take a few gulps from a can of beer in Brazil.

A video of the shocking sight proves the old saying clearly has an element of truth, when much to the amazement of a group of anglers the fish rose out the water to demand a sip of their Skol.

Drinking like a fish! Incredible moment a fish-out-of-water gulps down beer from the edge of a boat

The animal is then seen perched on the side of the boat with its neck raised ready for a taste.

One of the fisherman gladly obliges and pours the skol latao out of a yellow beer can into its mouth.

Remarkably the fish-out-of-water appears to start taking large gulps of the beer.

The anglers laugh in amazement as the animal takes over 20 mouthfuls of the alcoholic drink.

By then the fish has clearly had enough and dives back into the river.

The video of the incredible moment was posted to YouTube by Cleber Moura.

Remarkable sight: A fisherman happily pours his can of Skol into the fish's mouth in the Brazilian river

Truth to the old saying: The group of fisherman cannot believe their eyes before the fish returns to the water

In 2014 a group of researchers found that drunk fish can in fact double their speed.

The team in New York gave ethanol to a zebrafish and found that when surrounded by other fish its swimming speed doubled.

Alcohol has also been shown to decrease the inhibitory behaviour in fish, so this one in particular should be in for a merry afternoon.