Black Swallower
Chiasmodon niger
A stretchy belly makes every meal supersized.
The black swallower has a small body and a wildly expandable stomach. It can gulp down a fish larger than itself, then slowly digest the enormous meal.
Find this SeaPal in the card gallery
From field guide to game table
Bring this Black Swallower home
See which ready-to-play decks feature this SeaPal. Try one in the simulator before you buy, or explore each full deck list.
- 2 copies
Ready-to-play deck
Darkness Shroud Deck
Includes 2 cards featuring Black Swallower.
Quick dive
Creature passport
- Home
- It swims in deep tropical and subtropical waters around the world.
- Favorite foods
- It eats other bony fishes, including prey larger than its own body.
- Size check
- Up to about 10 in (25 cm)—about dinner-plate length
Tell-your-friends facts
Four wonderfully wild things
- 1
Backward-pointing teeth keep a captured fish from wriggling out.
- 2
Its stomach wall becomes almost transparent when stretched around a meal.
- 3
If oversized prey spoils before digestion, gas can float the swallower to the surface.
- 4
The dark body hides it in the midnight zone between meals.
Ocean superpower
Built to be amazing
Hinged jaws and a balloon-like stomach let it swallow gigantic prey.
Junior scientist tip
What should I look for?
Look for a slender black fish with a huge sagging belly after feeding.
Grown-up research links
We used trusted science organizations to check this profile.