Life under the sea is difficult. Darkness, cold, water pressure—all in all a hellish environment. As food is not abundant, life becomes more difficult for the animals there. Plants cannot produce food even through photosynthesis due to the very dim light that reaches several hundreds of meters below. As a result, the main source of food for benthic animals is the carcasses of marine animals that come down from above or other animals on the bottom of the sea.
sea monster
Animals in this hellish environment do not like to indulge in food. He eats what he gets. This rule is followed very seriously by the Black Swallower. He eats everything he gets. The scientific name of the fish is Chiasmodon niger .
Compared to other deep-sea fishes, such as the voyeuristic toothed angler or the large-mouthed or large-jawed pelican, the swallow is quite simple-looking. 6-8 inches in size. They look like normal fish on empty stomach. Sea sardines swim through the water with a narrow body. But if you see their condition after eating, then you will understand why they are called gluttonous fish or sagardano.
Black swallowers can open their jaws wide. I mean, yes it can in a big way. Their stomachs are like rubber. If necessary, the stomach becomes so large that the skin can be seen transparently.
Pelvic fins or abdominal fins are not attached below the abdomen like in other fishes. As a result, the abdomen may be abnormally wide. They can swallow roughly anything without chewing. A black swallower has the capacity to easily swallow a fish twice its size. Even at least ten times its own weight can enter the stomach at once! If people had this ability, an adult man could eat 700-800 kg of food in one sitting!
Black swallower is also called snaketooth or serpentine. Attacks the prey from the back and swallows it bit by bit like a snake to drive it into the stomach.
At 700 to 3,000 meters below sea level, such a diet is undoubtedly essential for their survival. However, it takes a long time to digest large amounts of food. Sometimes they are in danger of not being able to digest food.
Larger prey is relatively easy to digest for snakes. All you have to do is take a nap in the pit after eating. The body's digestive system will do what it does. But the digestive process of fish is not as fast as that of terrestrial animals. As a result, the food may begin to rot in the stomach before the digestive enzymes can digest the food.
If so, the black swallower's stomach swells like a balloon with gases from rotting food. As a result, despite their reluctance to leave their territory, they began to rise above the water. It is very dangerous and deadly for them. Because the number of predatory fish is higher. A heavy stomach also slows down the pace. Apart from that, because the water pressure is less at the top, the body tends to swell more. At one stage it dies, floats to the surface of the sea.
This is how scientists discovered this fish floating on the sea surface in the 1860s. In 2007, a 7.5-inch black swallower was caught in a fishing net in the Cayman Islands, United Kingdom. His stomach was swollen. Inside the stomach was a 34-inch snake mackerel.
