Goliath Tigerfish

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Imagine yourself swimming peacefully in a lake or a river in a sunny afternoon day in Africa, and then there's this fierce predator fish with distinctive protruding teeth took a big chunk of flesh out of you! You look down and saw this huge piranha looking fish swimming away with that flesh it took from you... You would tell me it's a nightmare or a scary story that I'm trying to sell you, but unfortunately, that's not the case. It's a kind of predator fish called the "Goliath Tigerfish".

Now, just a bit of the Biblical history before I continue, there was a war going on between the Israeli and the Philistine in ancient times, and in the team of Philistine's was a giant called Goliath, who threatened the Israelis to make them slaves if they lose and they can make the Philistines slaves if they win and he challenged the Israelis everyday for 40 days. Anyway, long story short, David, who was a young shepherd and not a giant, killed Goliath with a stone in a slingshot with one shot.

Well, not the story time is over, here comes the fun animal fact, like the Goliath in the Bible, the Goliath Tigerfish is a giant fish that weighs over 45 kg and over 1.5 meters in length.

Tigerfish can be considered Africa's piranha though the South American's piranha and the Tigerfish belong to a completely different family, as they are famous for their ferocity when hunting. They have razor-sharp teeth that are interlocking, which means their teeth are tightly joined together from back to back when biting, along with streamlined, muscular bodies built for speeding.

Tigerfish are very aggressive and brilliant predators. A tigerfish has a gas-filled sac in its body that it uses as a sound receiver. This transmits vibrations from the water, enabling it to detect any animals nearby and respond accordingly. A school of juveniles can tackle animals of almost any size, including any land animals that stray too close to the water's edge. Adults tend to travel in smaller groups of four or five to probably avoid too much competition for food, but they are no less dangerous. Even an individual can take down prey as large as itself. When food is scarce or the competition for food is too great, tigerfish may resort to cannibalism, that means eating the same species like themselves. This is particularly common during the dry season though. Tigerfish have also been known to attack humans, these attacks can be devastating owing to their sharp teeth and aggressive hunting tactics. So simple description of the Tigerfish? Dangerous fish!