I’ve bottle-fed mountain lion cubs, dived with sharks and photographed wild bighorn sheep in remote mountains. Covering wildlife for more than three decades has taken me to extraordinary places and introduced me to some of North America’s most fascinating animals.
Yet one of the most memorable wildlife experiences of my life came from a fish barely a foot long.
During a recent family trip to the St. Louis Aquarium at Union Station, I expected to enjoy the sharks, rays and other aquatic life. They were all impressive, but nothing prepared me for the Archerfish Habitat. It became the highlight of our visit and, surprisingly, one of the coolest captive wildlife experiences I’ve ever had.
That reaction surprised even me.
When I was a kid, I owned a set of Encyclopedia of the Animal World books that I treasured. I still have the complete collection today. One page fascinated me more than almost any other. It featured an illustration of an archerfish firing a jet of water at an insect perched above the surface. The idea seemed almost impossible. How could a fish accurately shoot water into the air, knock an insect from a branch and then race over to eat it?
I must have studied that page hundreds of times. Every time I flipped through those volumes, I’d stop at the archerfish illustration and imagine seeing one someday. Even after years spent photographing wildlife across North America, I had somehow never encountered a living archerfish. Seeing one in person at the aquarium felt like stepping back into childhood.
The demonstration showcased exactly what makes these fish legendary. A staff member held a target stick several feet above the water with small food items attached. Almost instantly, several archerfish positioned themselves beneath the target, carefully lining up their shots before firing narrow streams of water with startling force and precision. One by one, the food items fell into the water, where the successful marksman quickly claimed the reward.
The demonstration serves as enrichment for the fish while allowing visitors to witness one of nature’s most extraordinary hunting strategies in action. It also gives people an appreciation for a species that, despite its incredible abilities, remains largely unknown outside the aquarium world and among serious fish enthusiasts.
The aquarium employee could probably tell I was enjoying myself more than most adults. We started talking about wildlife, and then he smiled and handed me the target stick.
Suddenly, I wasn’t just watching the demonstration. I was part of it.
Holding the stick over the water, I watched the fish lock onto their targets before launching perfectly aimed streams that knocked the food loose almost every time. It was one of those rare moments that instantly transports you back to childhood, when simply seeing an animal do something extraordinary could make your entire day.
Ironically, despite all of the remarkable wildlife encounters I’ve experienced over the years, holding that target stick for a group of archerfish ranks near the top.
Part of what makes archerfish so fascinating is that they are unlike almost any other fish on Earth. Rather than inhabiting coral reefs or the open ocean, they live in mangrove forests, tidal estuaries, coastal lagoons and slow-moving rivers stretching from India and Sri Lanka across Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia to Papua New Guinea and northern Australia. Several species make up the genus Toxotes, with the banded archerfish (Toxotes jaculatrix) and largescale archerfish (Toxotes chatareus) among the best known.
Their world is one where forests meet the water. Many inhabit brackish estuaries where freshwater rivers mingle with the sea, while others venture well upstream into freshwater habitats. Mangrove roots create a maze of shadows and branches where insects, spiders, small crustaceans and even tiny lizards become potential prey. Instead of competing with other fish beneath the surface, archerfish evolved one of the most specialized hunting techniques in the animal kingdom by focusing on prey above the water.
An archerfish forms its “shot” by pressing its tongue against a groove in the roof of its mouth, creating a narrow, high-pressure jet of water. Larger individuals can knock prey from several feet above the surface, and exceptional shots approaching 10 feet have been documented. The stream isn’t simply a splash. It becomes increasingly concentrated as it travels, delivering enough force to dislodge insects clinging to leaves and branches.
The feat is even more remarkable because the fish are firing through two different mediums. Since light bends as it passes from air into water, the insect isn’t actually where it appears to be. Archerfish instinctively compensate for that optical distortion, making tiny adjustments before pulling the trigger. Scientists have also found they improve with experience, with younger fish becoming noticeably more accurate as they mature.
The hunt doesn’t end with a successful shot. Archerfish immediately predict where the falling prey will land and begin swimming toward that point before it even strikes the water. In schools, competition is fierce, and the fish that fires the winning shot still has to outrun its companions to collect the meal. It’s an elegant combination of vision, physics, instinct and split-second timing that has fascinated biologists for decades.
Watching that behavior unfold just a few feet away gave me an appreciation no photograph, encyclopedia illustration or television documentary ever could. It was one of those reminders that some of nature’s greatest marvels aren’t the biggest animals or the fiercest predators. Sometimes they’re species that most people have never even heard of.
Experiences like this also remind me why great aquariums matter. At their best, they do far more than display animals behind glass. They connect people with wildlife they may never have the opportunity to encounter in nature and inspire curiosity that can last a lifetime. Every child who watched those archerfish firing at the target was seeing something they will probably never forget. Maybe one of them will grow up to become a fisheries biologist, conservationist or wildlife journalist because a remarkable little fish sparked a lifelong fascination.
I know exactly how that happens because it happened to me.
As we walked away from the exhibit, my camera full of photographs and my mind full of memories, I realized wildlife experiences aren’t always defined by the size of the animal or the remoteness of the destination. Sometimes they are measured by how completely they reconnect us with the wonder we felt as children.
For me, that wonder came full circle in St. Louis. After all these years, I finally met the fish that had fascinated me since childhood. Better yet, I got to hold the target while it demonstrated one of the most remarkable hunting techniques in the natural world.
If you ever find yourself in St. Louis, don’t rush past the Archerfish Habitat. Slow down, watch carefully and, if you’re lucky, you might even get the chance to hold the target yourself. It may just awaken the same sense of wonder it did for me.
To learn more about the aquarium or plan a visit, go to St. Louis Aquarium at Union Station. It is well worth the trip—not only for the archerfish, but for the chance to reconnect with the curiosity that first made many of us fall in love with wildlife.
Chester Moore
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