In 2017, a fisherman in the Cayman Islands spotted a 19-centimeter-long black monster fish off the coast. The strange fish's stomach was very swollen, and it seemed to have swallowed something extremely difficult to digest. Driven by curiosity, the fishermen broke open the belly of the black monster fish, and the head of a blackfin snake mackerel was suddenly exposed, and after measurement, the length of the black fin snake mackerel was nearly 1 meter.
This strange black fish actually swallowed prey that was five times its own length, and even a fisherman with rich fishing experience had never seen such a terrible ability to swallow. Subsequently, the stunned fishermen took the photos to the nearest Institute of Marine Sciences. Scientists immediately recognized that this strange fish was the black fork-toothed dragon that lived in the deep sea and was called the "black devourer", also known as the black fork-toothed fish.
A horror hunter in the deep sea
The black forkrodfish mainly lives in the deep sea between 750 and 1900 meters, where sunlight is cut off overhead by a thick curtain of water. Because of the lack of direct sunlight, there are basically no plants that can take root here.
The creatures that survive in the deep sea are some fierce carnivores, and the black fork tooth fish is also one of them. It was ugly in appearance, flattened and scaleless, and its mouth was covered with fine serrated fangs.
Of all the deep-sea fish, the black forktooth is not very large, and generally only grows to 25 cm. The stomach of the black forked fish is its most terrifying place, compared to the body, the stomach of the black forkfish may be the largest stomach on the planet, in the case of need, the stomach of the black forkfish can be expanded to dozens of times the size of the original size.
Creatures living in the deep sea not only have to adapt to the harsh living environment, but also face the problem of food shortages at all times. In order to survive, the creatures of the deep sea have evolved their own way of survival in the evolution of survival of the fittest for thousands of years. Such as the horned trout, giant mouth fish and the like, have evolved huge mouth organs to solve the problem of food shortage in the deep sea.
In this regard, the black fork tooth fish has taken this road to the extreme. Not only does it have to eat all creatures smaller than itself, but it also dares to challenge meat eaters who are several times larger than itself, and can even swallow creatures ten times larger than itself into its stomach little by little.
Why can the Black Forktooth fish swallow creatures ten times larger than themselves?
This is mainly because it has a large mouth full of forked teeth and a magical stomach.
As one of the top meat eaters in the deep sea, the black fork tooth fish itself has a mouth that can open and close up to 130 degrees. While the big mouth is used for it to hunt for food, it also has two rows of sharp fork teeth on the inner wall of the mouth.
Once the prey is bitten, the dense fork teeth in the mouth can fix the body of the prey for the black fork tooth fish, making it difficult for the prey to break free.
And for those prey with larger heads than it, the black fork tooth fish also has its own way. This method is also used by anacondas living in the Amazon basin. Benefiting from the unique structure of the jaw and forehead bone, they can further expand the capacity of their mouths by dislocating their jaws, thus assisting them in swallowing their prey in one bite.
In tandem with the peculiar mouth, there is also the highly elastic intestine and stomach of the black fork tooth fish. As long as the food can be swallowed in the mouth, the stomach of the black fork tooth fish can continue to expand to accommodate more food. The swollen stomach can grow to dozens of times its original size, and the weight of the fish is ten times the size of its own body, but some scientists speculate that even so, their elastic stomachs may still not be full.
With these weapons, the black forktooth fish can make its predation simple and brutal and bloody. Whenever a creature swims slowly past its eyes, the black forked fish often swallows the battle in one bite and then quickly flees the scene of the crime. Because the strong smell of blood left by fighting in the sea is likely to attract more ferocious meat eaters.
But if the animal to be preyed is too large, it may still take a lot of effort for the black forktooth fish. They first have to bite into a certain part of the other person, most of the time the head or tail. Prey that is bitten on the head will soon suffocate to death due to the destruction of the respiratory system. Prey that is bitten off the tail will watch as cruel predators devour their bodies. Such an amazing devouring ability, even pythons that also make a living by swallowing can not match it.
The Black Devourer who died of devouring
The powerful swallowing ability and extremely elastic stomach do give the black fork tooth fish a better survival ability, but it also lays a hidden foreshadowing for the death of the black fork tooth fish in some places you can't imagine.
The first thing is that after the black fork tooth fish has swallowed the prey that is several times larger than itself, the undigested food wrapped in the stomach is a big burden for the black fork tooth fish in the deep sea of crisis.
Prey that far exceeds its own weight can seriously slow down the movement and reflexes of black forkfish, which is a great opportunity for meat eaters who hide in the shadows.
So after devouring food that is several times heavier than its own body, if the black forktooth fish can't quickly find a safe hiding place for itself. Then the devouring behavior of the black fork tooth fish is tantamount to making a wedding dress for others, and it is easy to take your own life.
Secondly, given the harsh ecological environment in the deep sea, it is perfectly normal for most creatures to grow sharp horned thorns on their bodies in order to protect themselves. This is a big threat to the black fork-toothed fish that wants to swallow its prey into its stomach. If you are not careful, the sharp horns can cut through the mouth and swollen stomach of the black forked fish, as well as its fragile digestive tract. Injured black forktooth fish are at risk of death at any time in the deep sea.
Finally, while evolving dislocated jaws and highly elastic stomachs, the Creator did not give the black forktooth fish the same powerful digestive power. To digest a delicacy that is several times more than its own weight is a big burden for the stomach of the black fork tooth fish, and it may take several weeks for the black fork tooth fish itself to completely decompose the food.
As a result, the corpse in the stomach may not have been fully digested and has begun to decay. Decomposition of corpses produces toxic and harmful gases such as hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide. The harmful gases produced can themselves be harmful to black forktooth fish.
The most important thing that the black fork tooth fish desperately wants to avoid is that if these gases accumulate in the body of the black fork tooth fish, but there is no effective way to release it, then they will cause the black fork tooth fish's abdomen to continue to bulge upwards, and eventually be carried by the gas in the stomach to the surface of the sea. In the process of floating, just the pressure difference between the different depths of the ocean can easily kill them.
epilogue
The black forked fish, which can devour prey ten times the size of itself, eventually died due to the side effects of its powerful devouring ability. But the black fork tooth fish can still survive and reproduce in such a harsh environment, which also shows that the strong devouring ability brings the benefits to the black fork tooth fish outweigh the disadvantages. In this game of life, the black steak fish has embarked on its own evolutionary path.
In recent years, as we have learned more about the black fork tooth fish, the black devourer has become less mysterious in the eyes of the world. Some of the carcasses of black forked tooth fish that have survived to the surface of the sea are often picked up by passing researchers to study the species diversity of the deep sea. And in the belly of the black forked fish, it is also very likely that there is a new creature hidden that we have never seen before.