EXPERT OPINION

Tiger fish hunting barn swallows is not a new phenomenon, although not many people know about it. In the late 1950s, game ranger TB Oatley recorded tiger fish preying on swallows at Lake Nyamiti in Ndumu Game Reserve in northern KZN. Later, fly-fishermen noticed similar behaviour in the Komatipoort area of the Lowveld. A report on this behaviour was published in the Journal of Fish Biology in 2014. A team of researchers studied tiger fish in Schroda Dam in Mapungubwe National Park and over a period of 15 days saw as many as 20 attacks per day.

Interestingly, the behaviour is currently only seen in smaller reservoirs where food sources are limited and tiger fish are forced to target other potential prey.