This hunting sail fish does not give up

Rare footage has emerged of a persistent sailfish hunting near the surface of the ocean. The video, captured by Alexander Benedik off the east coast of Mexico in 2010, shows the large animal, a member of the billfish family, repeatedly attacking a school of sardines. After failing to seize its prey several times, the sword-billed beast finally manages to pluck a fish from the panicking bait ball, after knocking it free with its blade-like snout. Sailfish are the fastest fish in the ocean, reaching speeds of nearly 70 mph. The sail on their backs is usually kept folded down, and only rises when they're attacking prey. Alexander said: "This is typical feeding behaviour. "Sometimes, before the sailfish attack, they change colour and open their dorsal fin." "Then they hit the fish with their sword, [knocking them] out of the bait ball". -- Welcome to Deep Blue Discovery - the YouTube channel designed to highlight all the amazing wildlife the Earth's oceans have to offer. We are dedicated to discovering the best sea life footage available, and we work with professional divers and videographers (and their amateur counterparts) to make sure it happens. Whether it's whales, sharks, eels or seals, if it lives in the sea, we'll try to cover it... So stay tuned for awesome videos uploaded daily. Deep Blue Discovery is owned and operated by Caters News Agency Ltd, an international multimedia content provider. We supply news, picture, video and feature stories to the world’s largest media publishers. All videos aired on this channel have been licensed from their rightful owners. For media / licensing / broadcast usages, please contact: [email protected].