It was a wet day in Okinawa, Japan, where Beckylee Rawls lives with her husband. The weather was perfect for tidepooling, so the pair went to a nearby location famed for its abundant marine life as the tide went out. Rawls, 29, says she frequently sees amazing aquatic critters there, including crabs, fish, and sea cucumbers, which become momentarily stranded in the shallow pools until the tide returns.

But on this particular day, while examining the pools, the project manager saw something unusual: the tip of a magnificent shell, just visible through the sand in a little pool of water. “Honestly, the only thing going through my head was, ‘That’s a pretty shell; let me take a closer look,'” she tells PEOPLE exclusively.

Rawls reached down and scooped it up with her bare hands. The shell was somewhat cool from the water, but what she noticed most was the exquisite, almost fascinating pattern engraved across its surface.

She held it for approximately 30 seconds, catching the moment on video before flipping it over in her palm and swishing it over the tidepool to remove the sand. But as she turned it over, she found something inside: delicate tissue, barely visible. Something was living.

She had seen shells like these washed up on the shore before, but this was her first contact with a living cone snail. She carefully returned it to the tidepool, taken aback. Then, after the pair left, Rawls decided to reverse image search the shell.

“That’s when I learned I might’ve just made the biggest mistake of my life,” she remembers.

During her inquiry, she found that the cone snail is considered the most deadly shell in the world. She adds that, while the shell itself is innocuous, the poisonous cone snail that lives inside is what makes it dangerous.

Despite its tiny size and attractive look, the cone snail has a deadly sting that may paralyze or even kill people. Some species have enough venom to kill several individuals, yet there is no known antivenom. By some miracle, Rawls was not stung.

“It’s even nicknamed the ‘Cigarette Snail’ because, according to urban legend, if it stings you, you won’t live long enough to finish a final cigarette,” she points out. “That chilling reputation really put things into perspective.”

“I was absolutely terrified and had so much paranoia for days after,” says this woman. “The more I learned about the deadly cone snail, the worse things got. My mind repeatedly reminded me that I had received a sting, but I was unaware of it. By the fourth day of fear, my husband was tired of telling me that I was going to live. The most unusual aspect is that there is no antivenom. The situation is one of hope and prayer.”

@beckyleeinoki ⚠️ Last time I ever pick up a cone shell barehanded…storytime coming #conesnail #shelling #oceanlife #venomous #beachcombing ♬ DIM – Yves

Rawls reasoned that if she didn’t realize how hazardous these shells were, many others presumably didn’t either, and because she had documented the situation on camera, she wanted to post her experience on social media as a warning.

She shared the video on TikTok, where it has now received over 24 million views and hundreds of 7,000 comments.

“It was wild,” she explains. “I didn’t anticipate it blowing up like that. Within hours, it had hundreds of thousands of views. The replies were mixed, with some individuals glad for the warning and others surprised I picked it up at all.”

“I can’t tell you how many hundreds of people have messaged me saying they would’ve picked it up too,” according to her. “It just demonstrates that this isn’t widespread knowledge, which is one of the most encouraging outcomes of all this. Many more people are now aware of the need to exercise caution.”

@beckyleeinoki I made a mistake that could have cost me everything. Share this with anyone who lives or vacations near the ocean so they’re aware of the danger of cone snails. #oceansafety #conesnail #marinelife #shelling #tidepool #coneshell #marinebiology ♬ DIM – Yves

After the initial video went video, Rawls filmed a follow-up TikTok, which also amassed over 1 million views. In the video, she gives viewers a more in-depth story about what happened.

“I’ve loved the ocean my whole life, so this isn’t going to scare me away from enjoying it, but it definitely drives home the importance of treating the unfamiliar with a lot more respect and distance,” she says.

“It’s a healthy fear to have,” she continues. “Some people in the comments told me a rhyme that will stick with me ‘If its a cone, leave it alone.’ “