We have to warn you now – this video is very distressing.

It shows a plastic straw being removed from a sea turtles nostril, highlighting how our trash is affecting marine life in a devastating way.

Oceanographers Christine Figgener and Nathan Robinson saved the endangered male olive ridley sea turtle in Costa Rica and uploaded the video to YouTube on Monday.

It took an excruciating eight minutes to remove the 10  to 12cm long plastic straw which was deeply lodged in the turtle’s nostril

“Is it a f*cking straw? Don’t tell me it’s a straw,” Christine is heard saying. The turtle flinches throughout, clearly in pain.

It took an excruciating eight minutes to remove the 10 to 12cm long plastic straw which was deeply lodged in the turtle’s nostril. Thankfully, the turtle was alright.

“We disinfected the air passageway with iodine and kept the turtle for observation before releasing him back into the wild. The bleeding stopped pretty much immediately after the removal of the straw,” Christine wrote on YouTube.

Afterwards Christine and Nathan explain angrily why plastic is such a hazard to marine animals. We all need to be more mindful about how we dispose of our rubbish – otherwise the consequences are disastrous.