---
title: "What the sources say about the Banded Archerfish | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "26 claims from the Banded Archerfish profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
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# What the sources say about the Banded Archerfish (*Toxotes jaculatrix*)

> 26 claims from the Banded Archerfish profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Banded Archerfish](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/banded-archerfish/)

## Hoese (2012). Toxotes jaculatrix. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2012: e.T196451A2458352.

https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2012.rlts.t196451a2458352.en

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Least Concern | Least Concern (LC) (note: IUCN category read through GBIF's copy of the Red List per docs/fact-check.md; cross-confirmed on the FishBase page, which prints the same category and the same 16 September 2011 assessment date.) |

## Toxotes jaculatrix (Pallas, 1767), Banded archerfish. FishBase.

https://fishbase.se/summary/Toxotes-jaculatrix.html

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Brackish mangrove estuaries, rivers and small streams from India and Southeast Asia to northern Australia | Asia and Oceania: India eastward to the Philippines, and south to Indonesia, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, and northern Australia. ... Occurs primarily in brackish mangrove estuaries, but also penetrates rivers and small streams (note: "Southeast Asia" stands in for "the Philippines, Indonesia, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea" from the quoted range. The habitat words are now the Biology line's own ("brackish mangrove estuaries", "rivers and small streams") rather than "brackish creeks" and "coastal rivers".) |
| The banded archerfish (Toxotes jaculatrix) patrols brackish mangrove estuaries from India east to the Philippines and south to Indonesia and northern Australia, pushing up into rivers and small streams. | Asia and Oceania: India eastward to the Philippines, and south to Indonesia, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, and northern Australia. ... Occurs primarily in brackish mangrove estuaries, but also penetrates rivers and small streams (note: Body opening sentence; same range quote as the stats.habitat claim above.) |
| It feeds at the surface by day, usually in small groups sneaking along under overhanging vegetation. | Reported to occur near overhanging vegetation on reefs ... Usually in small aggregations ... Feeds at the surface during daytime (note: Three FishBase Biology-field lines. "Sneaking" is dwa-banded-archerfish's own framing ("Their flattened body presents a narrow profile from above, so they can sneak up on their prey"); "stays near the surface" was replaced with the source's own "feeds at the surface during daytime".) |
| Adults are commonly around 20 cm, and the species reaches 30 cm. | Max length : 30.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 4833 ); common length : 20.0 cm TL male/unsexed (note: FishBase's own term is "common length", so "most adults" (the script's flag) became "commonly". Cross-confirmed by australian-museum-banded-archerfish: "Reaches a maximum size of about 30 cm.") |
| The banded archerfish is renowned for compensating for that refraction as it aims | It is renowned for its ability to 'shoot down' insect prey by expelling beads of water from its mouth with considerable force and for its remarkable ability to compensate for visual refraction when aiming its shoots (note: The source's own words are "renowned" and "refraction". The "not automatic, has to be learned" half is dwa-banded-archerfish's own claim, entered separately below.) |

## Banded Archerfish, Toxotes jaculatrix (Pallas, 1767). Australian Museum.

https://australian.museum/learn/animals/fishes/banded-archerfish-toxotes-jaculatrix/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| the species reaches 30 cm | Reaches a maximum size of about 30 cm. (note: Corroborates the fishbase-banded-archerfish max-length claim from a second, current (2020) institution page.) |

## Banded archerfish. Dallas World Aquarium.

https://dwazoo.com/animal/banded-archerfish/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| archerfish are short-lived in the wild, about two years | Archerfish have a short life span in the wild (two years). (note: Scope: the source's own word is "Archerfish", not Toxotes jaculatrix specifically, and the line sits under a page "Status" heading; kept at that scope. "Typically ... only" was replaced with the source's own "short life span in the wild (two years)".) |
| It presses its tongue against the groove on the roof of its mouth to form a tube, then snaps its gill covers shut to force water powerfully out. | With their tongue against the groove on the roof of their mouth, they form a tube, and force water powerfully out by snapping shut their gills. (note: Cross-confirmed by australian-museum-banded-archerfish: "it raises its tongue against the roof of the mouth forming a tube. The gill covers quickly close forcing water along the tube.") |
| A fish can fire up to seven shots in quick succession, and while the jet itself can travel 2 to 3 meters, it is only accurate out to about 1 to 1.5 meters. | The fish can squirt up to seven times in quick succession, and the jet can reach 6.6-9.8 feet (2-3 m), but they are accurate to only about 3.3-4.9 feet (1-1.5 m). (note: The source's figures: 2-3 m jet reach, 1-1.5 m accurate range. "A single fish ... in a row" became the source's "the fish" / "in quick succession".) |
| its eyes do not do it automatically: archerfish have to learn the correction | Their eyes, however, do not automatically correct for refraction, and they have to learn how to do this. (note: Same "Archerfish" (not species-specific) scope as the lifespan claim.) |
| It presses its tongue against a groove on the roof of its mouth, forming a tube, then snaps its gill covers shut to force water powerfully along it. A banded archerfish can fire off up to seven shots in quick succession, and its jet can travel 2 to 3 meters (6.6 to 9.8 feet), though it is only accurate out to about 1 to 1.5 meters (3.3 to 4.9 feet). | With their tongue against the groove on the roof of their mouth, they form a tube, and force water powerfully out by snapping shut their gills. The fish can squirt up to seven times in quick succession, and the jet can reach 6.6-9.8 feet (2-3 m), but they are accurate to only about 3.3-4.9 feet (1-1.5 m). (note: FAQ 1.) |
| Yes. Archerfish as small as 2 to 3 cm (0.8 to 1.2 inches) long can already spit, though their jets reach only 10 to 20 cm (4 to 8 inches). | Fish as small as 0.8-1.2 inches (2-3 cm) long can already spit, but their jets reach only four to eight inches (10-20 cm). (note: FAQ 3. "4 to 8 inches" is the source's own "four to eight inches" in figures. The second sentence (learning by watching a groupmate) was cut: it is animal-2006's finding, and this FAQ's single ref, dwa-banded-archerfish, does not state it.) |

## Simon et al. (2009). Population growth, trophic level, and reproductive biology of two congeneric archer fishes (Toxotes chatareus, Hamilton 1822 and Toxotes jaculatrix, Pallas 1767) inhabiting Malaysian coastal waters. Journal of Zhejiang University SCIENCE B.

https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.b0920173

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Insects and crustaceans taken at the surface, mostly ants and red-clawed crabs | The results show that, in both species, crustaceans and insects were the most abundant prey items, and among crustaceans the red clawed crab Sesarma bidens and Formicidae family insects were the most represented taxa. (note: Formicidae is the ant family. Scope: a Johor, Malaysia sample; the abstract states the finding 'in both species', so it covers T. jaculatrix. The surface-feeding part is FishBase's 'Feeds at the surface during daytime'.) |
| crustaceans and insects were the most abundant prey in both archerfish species sampled, led by red-clawed crabs and ants | The results show that, in both species, crustaceans and insects were the most abundant prey items, and among crustaceans the red clawed crab Sesarma bidens and Formicidae family insects were the most represented taxa. (note: Formicidae is the ant family; Sesarma bidens is the red clawed crab. Scope kept as the abstract states it: two congeners sampled together in Johor coastal waters, Malaysia.) |
| Egg-bearing females sampled in Johor coastal waters, Malaysia, weighed 25.7 to 275 grams. | collected from Johor coastal waters, Malaysia ... T. jaculatrix 25 251 to 150 456 eggs for females with total length ranging from 12.2 to 23.0 cm and total body weight from 25.7 to 275.0 g (note: Scope: the weights come from the fecundity table, so they are egg-bearing females (total length 12.2 to 23.0 cm) in one Johor, Malaysia sample, not a species average; the sentence says so.) |

## Vailati, Zinnato & Cerbino (2012). How Archer Fish Achieve a Powerful Impact: Hydrodynamic Instability of a Pulsed Jet in Toxotes jaculatrix. PLoS ONE.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0047867

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A pulsed water jet that gathers its own mass mid-air into a single, hard-hitting slug | The investigated fish are found to modulate the velocity of the jet at the orifice to favor the formation of a single, large, water drop that hits the prey abruptly with a large momentum. (note: stats.superpower, paraphrased from the abstract's own wording.) |
| High-speed filming of T. jaculatrix shows the fish speeding up the jet partway through the shot, so the trailing water catches the leading water and gathers into a single heavy slug right before it hits. | the velocity of the jet at the mouth of the fish is modulated so to achieve a gradual increase of the mass accumulated at the head of the jet and of its velocity. As a result, the power that the head of the jet can deliver upon impact increases during the shooting. (note: Full text; two specimens of T. jaculatrix filmed at 1000 frames/s. The flagged "single" is the abstract's own wording, quoted on the stats.superpower claim above: "the formation of a single, large, water drop that hits the prey abruptly with a large momentum". "Just before it hits" is the quote's own sequence (the power increases during the shooting and peaks at the impact); "the trailing water catches the leading water" is the paper's "power gets progressively transferred from the muscles to the tail of the jet, and in turn to the head of the jet".) |
| Measured against the muscle that fires it, the jet's power at impact reaches about 3,000 watts per kilogram, where a vertebrate muscle tops out around 500 watts per kilogram | we estimate that at the impact the jet conveys a typical specific power of about 3000 W/kg, which is well above the maximum specific power of the order of 500 W/kg deliverable by a vertebrate muscle (note: The paper's denominator is the jet-firing muscle: "The mass of the muscles involved in the emission of the jet can be estimated to be m_m = 178 mg for specimen 1, and 135 mg for specimen 2, and can be used to assess the mass-specific power P_imp = P/m_m". The derived "about six times more" was replaced with the paper's own 500 W/kg ceiling, since 500 is given as "of the order of" and the paper states no multiple.) |
| The force at that impact averages about 200 millinewtons, at least five times the anchoring force of most prey insects. | The force at the impact has an average value of about 200 mN. The anchoring force of insects such as flies [2], and bugs [3] is typically smaller than 20 mN for specimens with a body mass up to 100 mg, with peak values of about 40 mN for beetles [1] ... the force at the impact exceeds at least by a factor 5 the anchoring force of most preys. (note: "Anchor themselves to a leaf" was replaced with the paper's own "anchoring force of most preys" (insects "anchored to vegetation"). The paper notes both figures are "upper bounds achievable under ideal conditions".) |
| High-speed filming of Toxotes jaculatrix shows the fish speeds up the jet partway through the shot, so the trailing water catches the leading water and piles into one heavy slug just before impact. At the moment it lands, the jet's power works out at roughly 3,000 watts per kilogram of the muscle that fired it, where the maximum a vertebrate muscle can deliver is around 500 watts per kilogram. | we estimate that at the impact the jet conveys a typical specific power of about 3000 W/kg, which is well above the maximum specific power of the order of 500 W/kg deliverable by a vertebrate muscle (note: FAQ 2, same figures as the body claim, and the paper normalises the impact power by the mass of the jet-firing muscles (m_m = 178 mg and 135 mg for the two specimens). The flagged "so" and "before" are the paper's own sequence, quoted on the body claim: "the power that the head of the jet can deliver upon impact increases during the shooting".) |

## Ben-Simon et al. (2012). Visual acuity in the archerfish: Behavior, anatomy, and neurophysiology. Journal of Vision.

https://doi.org/10.1167/12.12.18

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| T. jaculatrix can detect visual structures as fine as 0.075 to 0.15 degrees of angle, with photoreceptors packed 5.8 micrometers apart in the area centralis, the patch of retina a target's image lands on. | archerfish (Toxotes jaculatrix) can detect visual structures with a minimum angle of resolution in the range of 0.075°-0.15° ... the image of a target on the retina coincides with the area centralis at the ventro-temporal retina ... Measuring the anatomical densities of both cell types in the area centralis, we found photoreceptor spacing to be 5.8 μm (note: Abstract only (publisher page refused); species is explicit in the abstract. The 5.8 μm spacing is measured in the area centralis, which is where the abstract puts the target's image, so the sentence names the area centralis rather than "a dense patch of retina".) |
| Archerfish can knock down small prey as high as two meters above the water. | Motivated by the fish's capacity to knock down small prey as high as two meters above water level, we studied the role of the retina (note: Split out of the acuity sentence: the abstract states this of archerfish (its opening line is "Archerfish are known for ...") as the study's motivation, not as a T. jaculatrix-specific result, so the sentence says "archerfish".) |

## Rossel, Corlija & Schuster (2002). Predicting three-dimensional target motion: how archer fish determine where to catch their dislodged prey. Journal of Experimental Biology.

https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.205.21.3321

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| An archerfish does not wait to see where its victim falls. About 100 milliseconds after a shot dislodges an insect, it turns to face the point where the falling prey will hit the water and swims straight there, without needing to track the insect's actual fall. | Only about 100 ms after prey is dislodged, the fish initiate a quick turn that aligns their body axis right towards where the prey will later land, and not to the actual position of the prey at that moment ... archer fish can head straight to the predicted point of catch without the need of any further visual feedback. (note: Abstract only (publisher page refused); species not named in the abstract, kept as "an archerfish" rather than claimed as T. jaculatrix-specific.) |
| About 100 milliseconds after its shot dislodges an insect, the fish turns to face the spot where the falling prey will hit the water and swims straight there, without waiting to watch where the insect actually goes. | Only about 100 ms after prey is dislodged, the fish initiate a quick turn that aligns their body axis right towards where the prey will later land, and not to the actual position of the prey at that moment ... archer fish can head straight to the predicted point of catch without the need of any further visual feedback. (note: FAQ 4, same quote as the body claim.) |

## Schuster et al. (2006). Animal Cognition: How Archer Fish Learn to Down Rapidly Moving Targets. Current Biology.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2005.12.037

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Archerfish also learn by watching each other: a fish that observes a groupmate successfully hit a fast-moving target can pick up the timing itself, without practicing the shot first. | all archer fish of a group were able to learn the complex sensomotor skill from watching a performing group member, without having to practice (note: Abstract only (publisher and open-access PDF both refused); species not named in the abstract, kept as "archerfish" rather than claimed as T. jaculatrix-specific. Replaces the old, unsupported "juveniles observe adults" framing: the source says group members generally, not a juvenile/adult split.) |