Archerfish target shoot with 'skillfully thrown' water
Friday, September 5, 2014 - 00:31
in Earth & Climate
Archerfish hunt by shooting jets of water at unsuspecting prey on leaves or twigs above, knocking them into the water below before gobbling them up. Now, a study finds that those fish are much more adaptable and skillful target-shooters than anyone had given them credit for. The fish really do use water as a tool making them the first known tool-using animal to adaptively change the hydrodynamic properties of a free jet of water.