The Fish That Fired Water
The Shooting-Fish
According to The World of Wonders, the shooting-fish hunted by noticing an insect above the water, fixing its gaze upon the target, and ejecting a forceful drop or small jet through its tubular mouth. The water struck the insect from its perch, dropping it into the pond, where the fish swallowed it[1].
The book supports this nineteenth-century claim with an account from 1828. Mr. Mitchell reportedly watched shooting-fish in a circular pond where beetles had been set upon pointed sticks atop a pole more than two feet high. One fish surfaced, stared steadily at a beetle, and knocked it into the water with its first shot; others repeated the performance, sometimes circling back for another attempt after missing[2].
To Victorian readers, the feat looked remarkably deliberate: the fish appeared to inspect its target, aim, fire, and correct a failed attempt. The book even wondered how it judged the insect’s position despite light being refracted at the water’s surface, asking whether the skill came from instinct or experience[3]. That is the book’s period interpretation, presented here as a historical natural-history report rather than a modern scientific conclusion.
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