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VIDEO

VIDEO

Sri Lanka’s Amazing Archers

Sri Lanka’s Amazing Archers

Watch this video to see how the archer fish has developed an extraordinary way of getting a bite to eat.

Grades

6 - 9

Subjects

Biology

The mangrove swamps of Sri Lanka provide “vital nurseries for young fish. One mangrove specialist, the archer fish, has developed an extraordinary way of getting a bite to eat.” Watch this video, from the Nat Geo WILD series “Destination Wild,” to see Sri Lanka’s amazing archers in action. Check out the other tabs to learn more about them and the mangrove ecosystems in which they’re found.

Fast Fact

  • There are only seven species of archer fish in the world.

  • All archer fish are native to coastal waters of Southeast Asia, Australia, and Oceania.

  • Archer fish can live in freshwater, saltwater, and brackish water.

  • During archer fish “shooting parties,” several fish shoot at a single prey—and then scramble to recover it when an archer in their party knocks it over.

  • An archer fish is just as likely to leap out of the water to grab an insect in its mouth as it is to “take aim” from below the surface.
Media Credits

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Writer
National Geographic Society
Editor
Chandana Jasti, National Geographic Society
Producer
National Geographic Society
other
Last Updated

October 19, 2023

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