How The Archer Fish Shoot Their Food Down
The Archerfish (or archer fish) are a family (Toxotidae) of fish known for their amazing ability to seal their gills and shoot a high power stream of water at their prey. This helps them to knock their food off from low hanging branches into the water, which are then gobbled up by the fish. A large lower jaw helps these fish to hunt.
Quite amazingly, these fish are remarkably accurate in their shooting; adult fish almost always hit the target on the first shot. They can bring down an insect six feet above the water’s surface. This is partially due to their good eyesight, but also because of their ability to compensate for the refraction which occurs when light travels through water. They do this by swimming directly under the prey, where the distortion is the least. However, experimentation has shown that the Archerfish can hit prey at greater angles than a perpendicular angle without losing on accuracy.
In this short video shot at a fish farm in Malaysia the workers entice the fish with a small scrap of meat attached to a pole above the pool of water. You’ll be amazed at the accuracy of their water arrows as they knock the food from the pole!
Pic via here.
