Black Swallower can swallow prey 10 times its own mass

Ricky Joseph

10-04-2023 Nature
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Ricky Joseph

The name black gobbler ( Chiasmodon niger ) stems from its dark color and its amazing ability to swallow prey up to ten times its size. Despite being only 25 centimeters in size, its size is still impressive. The black gobbler fish is the classic weird and bizarre fish that lives at the bottom of the sea that you never want to see.

The black gobbler enjoys tropical and subtropical ocean regions

This fish lives from 700 to 2700 meters down in the mesopelagic and bathypelagic zones where there is little or no light. The mesopelagic zone ends where there is no more sunlight, with its range extending into the North Atlantic.

It is usually found near the coasts of North America, especially around the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. However, many have also been found in South Africa.

Recording a live black goby on camera is extremely difficult. Most records of these fish occur through images taken by underwater probes or those that appear dead on beaches.

The black gobbler really doesn't hold back, they eat every part of the fish

Their diet consists of fish. The black gobbler can eat up to ten times its mass, which causes strain on its stomach. What they do is use their thin, sharp teeth in order to grab and shatter their prey.

Sometimes the victim manages not to get speared, especially the larger ones, and they can die another slower way and end up leaving the black gobbler in trouble: they start decomposing before the black gobbler's stomach acid has enough time to break it down. After the fish decomposes, it releases gas that fills the gobbler's stomach and causes it to flow upward intowards the surface.

This may not be fatal, however, most of the time the fish can be killed by anything from predators to decompression sickness.

Incredibly, this fish may have decompression sickness. But it seems that this is not the main cause of death for fish that have been found on beaches. Most of the ones that were found dead on the surface had too much food in their stomachs.

There are not many details about their reproductive behavior because of the difficulty involved in studying these fish.

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Ricky Joseph is a seeker of knowledge. He firmly believes that through understanding the world around us, we can work to better ourselves and our society as a whole. As such, he has made it his life's mission to learn as much as he can about the world and its inhabitants. Joseph has worked in many different fields, all with the aim of furthering his knowledge. He has been a teacher, a soldier, and a businessman - but his true passion lies in research. He currently works as a research scientist for a major pharmaceutical company, where he is dedicated to finding new treatments for diseases that have long been considered incurable. Through diligence and hard work, Ricky Joseph has become one of the foremost experts on pharmacology and medicinal chemistry in the world. His name is known by scientists everywhere, and his work continues to improve the lives of millions.