Fish that catches birds
Incredible sight of tern being plucked from sky in Blue Planet II
THE idea of a fish leaping out of the water to catch a bird sounds like a fisherman’s tale.
But while it seems to defy the natural order, that extraordinary scene has been caught on camera for the first time.
Crews filming the BBC’s new natural history series Blue Planet II were told that giant trevally fish had been seen hunting seabirds off the coast of the Seychelles.
What they found, and filmed, might prove to be the stand-out moment of the series, which begins next Sunday night.
The dramatic hunting sequence will captivate viewers and is likely to draw comparisons to the award-winning snakes versus iguanas scene from Planet Earth II last year.
The monster tracked the flight- path of the tern before intercepting and eating it ... in one gulp.
Series producer James Honeyborne said: ‘It’s one thing seeing a fish flying through the air, that’s unexpected enough.
‘But then seeing a fish flying through the air and catching a bird in its mouth, wow... yep – a bird-eating fish. The fish launches out of the water with phenomenal speed and acceleration and catches this bird in mid-air. And we filmed it in ultra slow-motion.’
Giant trevallies, which can hunt alone or as a school, prey on tens of thousands of terns that take off from shorelines in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Ferocious and powerful, the creatures typically eat other fish but are known to take juvenile turtles and small dolphins. They are highly prized by game fishermen because they put up a strong fight and can break rods and snap strong fishing lines.
The Blue Planet II film crew gambled on getting the footage because they did not have evidence to prove its bird-eating behaviour was anything more than a myth. Miles Barton, who directed the sequence, said: ‘I was sceptical, to say the least. But our researcher Sophie [Morgan] talked to these fishermen, and they convinced us, so we decided to do the shoot.
‘You only do one or two of these types of risky shoots on a show. This was our biggest gamble.
‘We arrived and got very excited because yes, there were splashes everywhere – the fish were leaping out of the water and seemed to be grabbing birds. But it happened randomly and very fast so we didn’t know how we were ever going to get a camera on the action.’
It was only after a week of frustration that the crew finally captured the shots they wanted.
‘We got it, they’re amazing shots. The giant trevallies leap out of the water and they really do take the bird out of the sky. A genuine birdeating fish,’ he added.