The African tigerfish has a habit that many suspected but no-one had seen, until it was caught on camera by South African researchers.

A team from the North-West University has captured footage of the tigerfish leaping from the water to pluck a bird from the sky, behaviour never before caught on film.

The team has reported the first confirmed record of a freshwater fish preying on birds in flight in the Journal of Fish Biology.

Stories of the act have circulated since the 1940s, but researcher Nico Smit says that his team was “never really convinced by the anecdotal reports”.

When it did happen “it took all of us a while to really fully comprehend what we had just seen,” Smit says.

“The whole action of jumping and catching the swallow in flight happens so incredibly quickly... the first reaction was one of pure joy, because we realized that we were spectators to something really incredible and unique.”

This was not an isolated event, the team reports. They claim to have observed as many as 20 successful fish strikes on barn swallows every day. The attacks ranged from pursuits by fish at the surface, followed by leaps, to direct attacks from deeper water.

Smit says it shows just how little is known about freshwater fish in Africa.

“We hope that our findings will really focus the attention on the importance of basic freshwater research, and specifically fish behaviour,” he adds.

The video can be seen below, though it is strongly recomended that speakers be turned down;