The Black Swallower

selim12 May 10, 2024 0 Comments

The black swallower (Chiasmodon niger) is scientifically known as Chiasmodon niger deep sea fish in the family Chiasmodontidae. It’s known to swallow a fish that is larger than itself with a black body, that’s why the black swallower.

Table of Contents

Habitat Of The Black Swallower:

The black swallower is found in the mesopelagic and bathypelagic zone at depths starting from 700–2,745 meters. It’s most common in the North Atlantic.

Appearance And Size:

This fish is a small fish,15 to 20 cm in length with a maximum of 25 cm. The body is long and compressed with no scales and with a dark brown to black color. The head is long, mid-size eyes and with big vast mouth to swallow larger prey. When the black swallower opens its mouth, the upper jaw protrudes past the upper. The teeth in both jaws are sharp. The pectoral fins are long with 15 rays, the pelvic fins are small with five rays. The anal fin contains 26-29 rays. The caudal fin is forked with 9 rays. The lateral line is continuous with two pores per body segment.

Diet:

This fish feeds on bony fish swallowing the whole prey, the upper jaw is articulated allowing the fish to swallow fish larger than the head itself. It grabs the fish from the tail and swallows it slowly to the mouth with the help of sharp teeth and flexible jaws. It has an extendible stomach(hanging from its back like a sac) used to digest prey but larger prey has been found in the stomach not being digested before decomposition set, resulting in extended gas release making the fish come to the surface and that’s how species are collected.

Behavior:

It has an extendible stomach(hanging from its back like a sac) used to digest prey but larger prey has been found in the stomach not being digested before decomposition set, resulting in extended gas release making the fish come to the surface and that’s how species are collected. It’s rarely seen in its natural habitat as it and isolated spending almost her lifetime alone. She also spends her time in the Twilight Zone and the deeper bathypelagic zone. It’s a stealth hunter attacking the prey in silence and quickness.

Reproduction Of Black Swallower:

The black swallower reproduction is oviparous, the eggs are pelagic measuring 1.1 mm in diameter containing a clear oil and six dark pigment patches distributed alongside the larva. The eggs are mostly found in winter off South Africa with juveniles found from April to August.