Written By Picxact on Thursday | September 05, 2013

Archerfish

The archerfish (spinner fish or archer fish) are a family (Toxotidae) of fish known for their habit of preying on land based insects and other small animals by shooting them down with water droplets from their specialized mouths. The family is small, consisting of seven species in the genus Toxotes; which typically inhabit brackish waters of estuaries and mangroves, but can also be found in the open ocean as well as far upstream in fresh water.They can be found from India to the Philippines, Australia, and Polynesia.

Spinnerfish

Archerfish or Spinnerfish bodies are deep and laterally compressed, with the dorsal fin, and the profile a straight line from dorsal fin to mouth. The mouth is protractile, and the lower jaw juts out. Sizes are generally small,about 5–10 cm . chatareus can reach 40 centimetres (16 in). The Archerfish are remarkably accurate in their shooting; adult fish almost always hit the target on the first shot. They can bring down insects and other prey such as grasshoppers, spiders and butterflies, on perches, up to 3 m above the water's surface. This is partially due to their good eyesight, but also their ability to compensate for the refraction of light as it passes through the air water interface when aiming for their prey. They typically spit at prey at a mean angle of about 74 degrees from the horizontal, but can still aim accurately when spitting at angles between 45 and 110 degrees.