Tigerfish Catching Swallows

The voracious tigerfish is a fearsome freshwater predator in many African rivers but now at Schroda Dam in a remote part of South Africa’s Limpopo Province, not even the swallows flying over the water are safe because the fish have learnt to catch them as they fly down to drink on the wing or to plunge bathe.

(Plunge bathing requires the bird to splash into the water very briefly before flying off again without settling)

The fish, which can grow up to 70 cm (two feet four inches) are extremely fast and rocket out of the water to capture the birds in their fearsome jaws.

Although first recorded in 2012, new videos published on social media clearly show the fish catching the hapless European swallows (formerly called Barn swallows)

https://www.tiktok.com/@naturelover4u0/video/7334059959841328405

According to researchers, tigerfish utilise two techniques to catch the birds. One requires the fish to swim along the surface before launching itself into the air, but a more successful tactic is for the animal to launch their attack from under the water which researchers noted was more successful.

The second technique requires the fish to compensate for the optical distortion caused by refraction (light “bends” as it passes between water and less dense air).

“The surface pursuit strategy was less successful (approximately one of seven attempts was successful) compared to direct aerial strikes initiated from deeper areas (approximately one of three attempts was successful),” researchers G. C. O’Brien, F. Jacobs, S. W. Evans, and N. J. Smit note in their paper First observation of African tigerfish, Hydrocynus vittatus, predating on barn swallows, Hirundo rustica, in flight (2014).

During one 15-day period the researchers recorded that as many as 300 swallows were preyed upon. European swallows are migratory and only visit the dam in the southern hemisphere  summer.

The Schroda Dam was built by mining company De Beers to help supply water to the nearby Venetia Diamond Mine.