archerfish

noun

ar·​cher·​fish ˈär-chər-ˌfish 

: any of several small chiefly Asian bony fishes (genus Toxotes and especially T. ejaculator of the family Toxotidae) that catch insects by stunning them with water ejected from their mouths

Examples of archerfish in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

There’s something almost mischievous about the way an archerfish hunts. — Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 11 Apr. 2026

Regardless, the archerfish is clearly still able to learn visual patterns, remember them and retrieve them later on. — Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 17 Jan. 2026

However, despite lacking that brain region entirely, archerfish were still able to learn how to perform that same visual discrimination task. — Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 17 Jan. 2026

The Shedd Aquarium houses a remarkable creature called an archerfish that spits water 3 feet into the air to knock insects off trees into the water for dinner. — Sheryl Devore, chicagotribune.com, 10 Jan. 2022

The scientists concluded that archerfish can assume the viewpoint of another archerfish to learn a difficult skill from a distance. — Jonathan Balcombe, Scientific American, 1 May 2017

An archerfish can squirt water in a single shot or in a machine gun–like fusillade. — Jonathan Balcombe, Scientific American, 1 May 2017

Still, the findings seem to indicate that an archerfish might recognize the person who incessantly taps on its aquarium wall. — Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, 7 June 2016

Word History

First Known Use

1837, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for archerfish

• cuttlefish
• jellyfish
• sablefish
• bluefish
• catfish
• codfish
• crawfish
• dogfish
• finfish
• flatfish
• goldfish
• groundfish