Chomp! Fish Snatches Bird In Flight: VIDEO

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The Smithsonian Channel doesn't call it "the ferocious tigerfish" for nothing.

It's been clear for ages that the African tigerfish is a vicious predator. Just check out those teeth.

Now researchers in South Africa say they've got video that proves something else that's really amazing about "Africa's answer to the piranha":

It can leap from the water to snatch a bird — and not a feathered snack that's just floating or standing around in shallow water. We're talking about a fast-flying swallow. Take a look at the clip, which Nature Newstream has helpfully presented in both real time and slow motion.

It's thought to be the first evidence of a freshwater fish "catching birds on the wing," the BBC says.

The researchers' work is published in the latest Journal of Fish Biology.