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Archerfish catch many prey by shooting a pulsed jet of water at an animal above the surface. The impact knocks it into the water, where the fish can eat it. Studies also show that archerfish can adjust their shots, and that smallscale archerfish can jump out of the water to capture prey.
How does an archerfish use water to catch prey?
An archerfish sights an insect or other prey above the water, aims its mouth toward it, and expels a jet that knocks the target down. The fish then takes the fallen prey from the water. This is the best-known feeding method, but the jet is not simply a fixed squirt: experiments show that its dynamics can vary with the feeding context.
How does the water jet deliver an impact?
In a study of Toxotes jaculatrix, researchers proposed that hydrodynamic instability in the pulsed jet helps gather water into a larger drop as it travels. That drop can strike with substantial momentum, amplifying the impact at the target rather than relying on an internal structure in the fish that stores unusually large mechanical energy (Vailati, Zinnato, and Cerbino, 2012).
The same study estimated typical specific power at impact at about 3,000 W/kg and cited about 500 W/kg as the estimated maximum specific power deliverable by vertebrate muscle. These are study-specific estimates, not exact values for every fish or shot (Vailati, Zinnato, and Cerbino, 2012).
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Can archerfish adjust their shots?
Yes. Research on aerial and underwater shooting reports the same basic dynamic mechanism in both settings. In underwater trials, fish used a short pulse to lift food from a substrate made of large particles and a longer pulse over finer-grained substrate. These are findings from experimental conditions, not a rule that applies to every feeding situation (underwater shooting study; aerial and underwater shooting study).
Archerfish also maintain shot impact over a range of tested distances. In experiments with Toxotes chatareus, average force on the target at the farthest tested distance—5.8 body lengths—was less than 15% lower than at the closest distance, 2.3 body lengths. When offered two targets, fish tended to shoot at the closer one first. These results describe that species and those experimental distances, not a universal performance guarantee (2015 force study).
Do archerfish ever catch prey without shooting it?
Yes. Smallscale archerfish (Toxotes microlepis) have been observed jumping out of the water to capture prey. Shih, Mendelson, and Techet described the behavior in three phases: “hovering to sight prey at the surface,” a rapid upward thrust, and gliding toward prey after leaving the water. Their study reported jumps up to 2.5 body lengths (Shih, Mendelson, and Techet, 2017).
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Jumping is a documented alternative in this studied species; the available studies do not establish how often wild archerfish use jumping rather than shooting across the genus, species, or habitats.
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How shooting and jumping differ
| Method | Where the prey is | Capture sequence | Evidence described |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water jet | Above the surface, or food on an underwater substrate in experiments | The fish shoots a pulsed jet; prey is dislodged and then taken from the water | Aerial and underwater shooting studies, including work on Toxotes jaculatrix and distance tests with Toxotes chatareus |
| Jump | At or above the surface | The fish sights prey, thrusts upward, then glides toward it after leaving the water | Observed and analyzed in smallscale archerfish, Toxotes microlepis |
The methods are not shown to be mutually exclusive across archerfish. The evidence establishes capabilities in particular studies, not the relative frequency of each method in the wild.
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