The Incredible Bird-Eating Fish
Giant trevally — the apex predator — who hunts live birds
“It started as a fisherman’s tale — this 40kg pugnacious bulldog of a fish that would leap out of the water and grab sooty terns in mid air. There was no hard evidence — no stills photography or video,” Barton told Terry Payne in an interview.
There are so many birds who eat fish. And we all know that. But do you know that there is a fish that can swallow a whole live bird in seconds?
Before being captured on camera, it’s was just a rumor among biologists that bird-eating fish does exist. But when the director of Attenborough’s documentary Blue Planet II, Miles Barton, filmed that bird-eating fish on camera hunting sooty tern birds, the whole world became astonished.
See the below video clip of Blue Planet II where that predator fish is catching live birds.
This humongous silvery-color fish is known as Giant trevally found in the tropical waters of the Indo-pacific region. They are great predators and love to hunt individually and sometimes in groups.
To capture Giant trevally’s rare bird-hunting moments, Barton — being fully equipped with his team — went to Seychelles, South Africa.
“It’s very unusual to go out on a big shoot with hundreds of kilograms of highly expensive kit with no real confirmation. It cost a lot of money,” Barton described the potential risks involved in this shoot.
The team had no luck for the first two weeks though they worked ten hours a day being in a rickety boat. Later, the local guide advised Barton to film from the shore and told him that the trevallies come near the shore every day for a few hours to hunt birds.
The team followed the advice, and the result was outstanding. They filmed the trevallies hunting Sooty tern birds and devouring them alive. Poor birds!! Anyway, the entire team was astonished and terrified by the sight.
While describing this unforeseen event, Barton says,
“You could see the fish under the water, you could see the birds flying over the water and you start to see the fish track the bird like a little missile. The fish manages to project itself a meter out of the water and then expands its mouth to the size of a small football to totally encompass the bird. It happens so fast you don’t really see it until you play it back.”
The world is indeed full of surprises and mysteries. And when we take things for granted, nature tells us that there are more things in heaven and earth than what we know or see.
Who could ever think, in his wildest dream, that a fish can swallow a whole live bird?
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