Victor Hugo Sosa wed the caiman reptile called Alicia Adriana as he re-enacted an ancestral ritual.

Local lore, or tradition, calls the creature the "princess girl" and the mayor said the pair "loved each other".

Onlookers clapped and danced in San Pedro Huamelula, a town of indigenous Chontal people in Oaxaca state, southern Mexico, as they entered into holy matrimony.

Mr Sosa said during the ritual: "I accept responsibility because we love each other. That is what is important.

"You can't have a marriage without love... I yield to marriage with the princess girl."

He was pictured kissing the animal on the head.

Marriage between a man and a female caiman has taken place there for 230 years to commemorate the peace between the Chontal and Huave indigenous groups.

The mayor, representing the Chontal king, marries the reptile, symbolising a Huave princess girl, in a union of the two communities.

Caimans live in marshes and are endemic in Mexico and central America.

Before the ceremony, the animal is carried from house to house so locals can hold her and dance.

The reptile wears a green skirt, a colourful hand-embroidered tunic and a headdress of ribbons and sequins.

Her snout is bound shut so there aren't any pre-marital mishaps.

She is later dressed in a white bride's costume and taken to the local town hall for the wedding.

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After the event, the mayor danced with his bride to the sounds of traditional music.

"We are happy because we celebrate the union of two cultures. People are content," Mr Sosa told the AFP news agency.