Woe betide any insect perching on a leafy frond near the water’s edge if an archerfish lurks nearby.
This predator can strike its prey with a mouthful of water from up to three metres away, even compensating for the way light bends as it crosses the waterline and adjusting its aim to make a direct hit.
Exactly how the archerfish water pistol works has until recently remained a mystery. It was long assumed to involve an inbuilt catapult, but nobody could find such a mechanism.
Then, in 2012, a team of Italian scientists discovered that archerfish don’t rely on catapults or muscle power, but instead manipulate the water itself.
An archerfish spits out streams of water by pushing its tongue along a groove in the roof of its mouth. By pushing harder towards the end of the stream, the droplets further back collide with those ahead, merging into larger blobs.
So instead of sprinkling their prey with a gentle mist, archerfish throw powerful water bombs that speed up as they approach their target.
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