An African tigerfish was caught on video grabbing a swallow mid-flight, according to Nature.com.
"The African tigerfish is one of the most amazing freshwater species in the world," Nico Smit, director of the Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management at North-West University, told BBC. "It is a striking fish with beautiful markings on the body, bright red fins and vicious teeth."
The video is the first confirmed report of a freshwater fish preying on birds. Nature reports African tigerfish (Hydrocynus vittatus) were rumored to participate in this behavior since the 1940s, but researchers were unable to validate the allegations.
The findings were published in the Journal of Fish Biology.
"The whole action of jumping and catching the swallow in flight happens so incredibly quickly that after we first saw it, it took all of us a while to really fully comprehend what we had just seen," Smit told Nature.
According to BBC News, the tigerfish is a protected species of South Africa, found in a lake in the Mapungubwe National Park. The researchers used radio tags to keep tabs on individual tigerfish, learning the species fed at dawn and dusk, resting during the day.
However, it wasn't until the researchers spotted some unusual activity where they learned the tigerfish preyed on swallows. It was during a summer survey where they found the fish feeding mid-morning on the birds that skimmed the lake's surface, BBC reports.
The researchers witness 20 fish who were able to successfully catch swallows, according to Nature.
"The first reaction was one of pure joy, because we realized that we were spectators to something really incredible and unique," Smit told Nature.
"We hope that our findings will really focus the attention on the importance of basic freshwater research, and specifically fish behaviour," Smit added.
Check out the tigerfish catching swallows in the video below.
