A FISH THAT SHOOTS ITS PREY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22670, 6 March 1937, Page 9 (Supplement)

A FISH THAT SHOOTS ITS PREY

When by the riverside, we sometimes see fishes shooting their noses out of the water to reach flies hovering near the surface. Probably, as often as not, the fly is brought down by merely being wetted with the water thrown up by the fish, as most flying insects have a tendency to drop suddenly when unexpectedly touched. It is the archer-fish, which inhabits the rivers of the East Indies, Australia and New Zealand, that has made the most of that discovery. Instead of jerktEg itself out of the ■water, it acquired the art of lying low with a mouthful of water in readiness to shoot, as a single globule, like a bullet, at the unwary fly. From quite simple beginnings, its skill as a marksman steadily evolved. Now the fish favours the shallows of rivers with overhanging foliage on which flies alight. It then takes sight at a resting fly and makes a perfect aim, knocking it* off and capturing it. It is said the fish can hring down flies at a distance of six feet.