Archerfish facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Archerfish |
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| Banded archerfish, Toxotes jaculatrix | |
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Toxotidae
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Toxotes
Cuvier, 1816
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Archerfish (or archer fish) are small fish. Some live in fresh water. Others live in salt water. They live from India to the Philippines, Australia, and Polynesia.
Archerfish eat insects and other small animals. The archerfish looks for an insect hanging over the water. The archerfish shoots drops of water out of its mouth at the insect. When the drops hit the insect, it falls into the water. Then the archerfish catches (gets) the insect and eats it.
Archerfish can hit insects up to two meters (six feet) away. Adult archerfish almost always hit the insect the first time, but young archerfish must do it many times in order to learn how.
Images for kids
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Illustration of an archerfish shooting water at a bug on a hanging branch
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Toxotes blythii
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See also
In Spanish: Toxotes (animal) para niños
