Shocked with the Screen of Bullet Water Knocked Down Prey 2m Away

Thanks to a special mouth structure, archers can create large pressure in the mouth to spray strong water jets at insects on trees and knock them out at a distance of 2m. This article explains the key facts and context behind water fish catch prey.

Key Facts About Water Fish Catch Prey

Archery fish, also known as basketfish, scientific name is Toxotidae. Bamboo shoots are not large in size, average body length is about 18cm. This fish has a pointed head, wide mouth, long slender body and flattened body. Their bodies are unbalanced with a fairly pedestal abdomen and the lower jaw bone extends forward.

Archers live in both saltwater and freshwater environments. In Vietnam, archers live in the downstream of large rivers in the Southern Delta.

Archery fish has a very special mouth structure. The muscles in the lower jaw bone are strong and work in the same way as the muscles in the human arms when they want to throw an object away. This structure enables them to create great pressures to shoot 'water bullets' towards prey 2m away.

Archers can shoot 'water bullets' at about 3.01m / s. In particular, this velocity moves gradually over time and when the target is reached, the 'bullet' has reached the speed of 3.27m / s.

Why Water Fish Catch Prey Matters

This speed is enough to knock out small insects, causing some birds to be stunned and causing the skin to hurt like stabbing needles.

See the close-up of the special hunting process of this archer fish.

The hunting method of archers is very glorious. Because the light is bent when going from the air to the water, the image of the prey that the archer sees from the water is only a virtual image. The archer knows that, they still determine the exact target by being able to accurately calculate the distance between the virtual image and the actual position of the prey.

Since then, they will be around the amount of water that must be used to shoot the prey so that it can destroy the target but avoid high damage.

In addition, archers also calculate the effect of gravity on the "bullet" of water they shoot to find the right angle to "shoot". This will help the "bullet" achieve higher accuracy.

See also: Like humans, fish also have arthritis?