Organism of the Week - Banded Archerfish
The banded archerfish or scientifically, the Toxotes jaculatrix, is in the Animalia kingdom, Chordata phylum, Actinopterygii class, Perciformes order, and Toxotidae family.
The banded archerfish is described as a brackish water fish known for their ability to shoot a jet of water with their mouths. These fish are silver with five to seven semi-triangular dark bands on their sides. They have a lateral, compressed body and a flattened head with a pointed snout. Their big eyes have binocular vision, used to accurately hit their target of their water jet. Their dorsal fin is yellowish-green and is located towards their posterior end, shorter than their anal fin. Their anal fin is silver and their caudal fin is a dirty green, getting shorter from where it starts, In the wild, they grow up to 18.8 inches (29.97 centimeters) in length and in captivity, they grow up to 6 inches (15 centimeters). Their ability to spit a jet of water is used to capture prey. To do this, hey raise their tongue against the roof of their mouth and close their opercula, causing pressure on the water on the tube formed by their tongue to shoot. This jet of water can hit prey 2 to 3 meters away and can hit them within 50 milliseconds of hitting the water, The banded archerfish is omnivorous, with a diet consisting of plant matter, small fishes, crustaceans, and insects. They use their ability to shoot water to capture the insects above the water and they also use their ability to jump out of the water to capture them. They also may hunt together and all shoot together at a target, with every fish for themselves.
Banded archerfish are found in the waters of most of tropical Asia, Papua New Guinea, and northern Australia. Their habitat lies in coastal brackish (water with more salinity than fresh water, but not as much as seawater) and mangroves estuaries. They are found mostly in shallow, dirty water. They occasionally move into freshwater and saltwater from the brackish water.
The banded archerfish reproduces by broadcast spawning which means that the fish release their eggs and sperm into the water and fertilization occurs externally in eggs. They swim from the brackish water to saltwater coral reefs and rocks to reproduce. After the broadcast spawning occurs, the eggs hatch in about a few hours. The female lays approximately 20,000 to 150,000 floating eggs at a time that are about 0.4 millimeters (0.016 inches) in diameter. In captivity, it is difficult to breed the fish. They become mature at 1 or 2 years old and their lifespan in the wild is up to ten years old.
Fun Fact: The name ‘archerfish’ comes from the mythological archer, Sagittarius from the fish’s ability to shoot down their prey with water.
http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/perches/ArcherFish.php#Breeding%20/%20Reproduction
http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/onlinelearningcenter/species/banded_archerfish
http://carnivoraforum.com/topic/9747017/1/